


The Thin Ice

by lunasenzanotte



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Criminals, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Character Death, Crimes & Criminals, M/M, Minor Original Character(s), References to Drugs, Uruguay National Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-31
Updated: 2014-08-02
Packaged: 2018-02-11 04:53:03
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 34,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2054367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunasenzanotte/pseuds/lunasenzanotte
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When there are two gangs fighting, the worst thing to do is to join one of them. And even though not everything is like in the movies, they're right in something: there can't be a happy ending for everyone.</p><p>Diego Lugano and Luis Suárez are two gang leaders fighting for power in Montevideo. Edinson Cavani is a rather clueless boy new to the city, who gets involved with one of the gangs right when the war is about to start. Diego Forlán is a cop without any personal life whatsoever. And we can't forget the important international partners, Paolo Guerrero and Radamel Falcao, who are both complete jerks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> This work is old like the world itself. It's my first multichapter fic. It has flaws, but I'm still proud of it and I think the world of fic needs more Uruguay NT. So here it is.

The street buzzed like a giant beehive, the neon signs blending with car lights into big smudges of light, the warm air smelled of cigarette smoke, gasoline and spilt alcohol. The sound of all different kinds of music from the clubs together with loud voices, laughter and occasional car horns was giving it all the final factor one needed to feel a little bit dizzy, but unexplainably happy at the same time. 

Edinson wasn’t used to places like this, to the big city and the nightlife. He came here only a few weeks ago, and the small town he lived in before had just one pub where old men played pool and darts, watched football games on Saturdays and drank poorly chilled beer while reminiscing on the old times. It definitely wasn’t a place the youngsters would like to hang around at. However, he tried not to look too excited or intimidated. His company, Walter and Nicolás, were making their way through the small groups standing outside the clubs like they were doing it every night, and probably they really were. He couldn’t make a fool out of himself. During the past few days he realized that the other guys had some respect for them, and that not just anybody got to hang around with them. He also understood that their company wasn’t the best he could get into, though. There was the weird aura of trouble around them. But also the glitter top coat of expensive clothes, shoes and cell phones, in other words the things he’d only dreamed about before. And the glitter as always could outshine every imperfection underneath.

The club they were approaching looked like one of the better places. Certainly it didn’t look cheap. There were no obscene neon signs in the form of naked women, no old posters stuck to the door and no drunkards lying on the ground at the entrance. Above the main entrance there was a terrace with white leather sofas and a beach-style bar. It was probably the best place to sit in with a hot night like this, if one could afford it, of course. Walter and Nicolás slowed down and discussed something quietly. It seemed to Edinson like Walter got an idea that amused him, but Nicolás didn’t quite agree with it. Finally, Walter turned to him and pointed at something.   

"See that car, Edi?" he asked.

Edi looked at the white convertible that looked brand new, or at least really well polished, and nodded.

“You dare?”

“Don’t be a fool, Walter!” Nico said and grabbed his friend’s arm like he wanted to stop him. “That’s Lugano’s car!”

“Exactly.”

“Idiot, if he only touches it, Lugano will kill him, and he will probably kill us, too.”

Walter snorted and looked at Edi.

“Relax, he won’t do it anyways!”

Edi looked around. There was a group of people standing in front of the entrance. Not a big group, just five or six people. They were chatting and didn’t seem to be looking around too much. Obviously the keys weren’t there, but his grandfather owned a car service and so Edi could start a car without keys practically before he learned to read.

“Can you imagine if Lugano…” Nico started again, but Edi wasn’t listening anymore.

He made a few steps towards the car, waited for the right moment when nobody seemed to be looking, and then he hopped in, started the engine and stepped on the gas.

 

***

 

A tall blonde man on the terrace got up from a leather sofa and looked at the disappearing lights of the car in disbelief. Then he turned to the two younger men who were standing behind him.

“Did you see that?” he asked.

The long-haired one only nodded, the other one let out a surprised gasp.

“Yeah.”

“So go and get him, idiots!” the blonde shouted.

The two youngsters immediately headed to the stairs. When they were getting into their car, they could still hear their boss shouting above their heads.

“If you don’t get him, you’re going to buy me a new car and then I will run you over with it, is that clear?”

“Better go faster than you usually do, Nando!” the long-haired one said when they drove out of the street.

 

***

 

Edi half expected the car that was following him to try to push him out of the road, but it didn’t. After all, it made sense. He had to stop sooner or later. Why destroy the car?

He understood why they decided to just follow him when the orange lights appeared a few hundred meters away. The road was closed due to some road works. He stopped the car and stepped out. There was no point in trying to run away either.

The brakes of the other car screeched and in the next second, two men jumped out. The long-haired one ran up to him and grabbed him, more symbolically, because Edi didn’t put up a fight at all. 

“Are you nuts?” the man yelled. “You couldn’t have stolen someone else’s car?”

“No.”

He could hear the other man giggle.

“He wanted us to have some exercise, Martín!” he said. “Maybe let him go and we can chase him some more.”

“I’ve had enough already, Nando. Leave the car here, we will come back for it later.”

“But you can go with him and I can drive our car!” Nando objected. 

“I don’t know about you, but I can’t drive and hold someone at gunpoint at the same time. Leave the car here and let’s go before Lugano kills us all!” Martín said. 

“Now someone’s gonna steal our car,” Nando said and pouted as he locked it and walked over to Lugano’s car.

“Ours didn’t cost seventy grand, idiot!” Martín grinned.

 

***

 

The room they entered was at the back of the club, it looked like an office, but there were not the usual things that could be found in a regular office. No files, documents, scissors or post-it notes. It was a room with a huge mahogany table, expensive furniture and a small bar with alcohol bottles and glasses in the corner.

A tall man got up from his chair behind the table when Nando and Martín pulled Edi inside. He almost fell when they pushed him towards the man. 

“Here you have him.”

The man raised his eyebrows. He looked like an angel, except that angels weren’t supposed to wear leather jackets, expensive watches and carry guns. Edi corrected himself. He looked like a very dangerous angel.

“This?” he laughed when he looked at Edi, then he looked back at Nando and Martín. “You can go, I can handle this one on my own.”

When the door clacked behind them, he looked at Edi and took off his jacket. Edi blinked rapidly. This man was obviously spending a lot of time in the gym.

“I’m Diego Lugano,” he said like it meant the world but he wasn’t aware of it. “And your name, young man?”

“Edi.”

His voice was just above a whisper and it wasn’t like he wanted to keep his full name a secret, he simply couldn’t get more than two syllables out of his mouth.

“Do you have a last name?”

He sounded calm and almost friendly, but there was the dangerous undertone that made Edi’s mouth dry. He had to take two deep breaths before speaking again.

“Cavani.”

Lugano nodded.

“Why did you steal the car?” he asked.

Edi shrugged. He didn’t know that himself, if he was to be honest. 

“It was a bet,” he said then.

“A bet,” Lugano repeated and came closer to him. “Your parents didn’t teach you that stealing is bad, Edi?”

The best response here was probably silence, because if this wasn’t a rhetorical question, then Edi didn’t know what was.

“Well, I will teach you. I can guarantee that you will never forget it.”

 

***

 

There was no more pain, or at least his brain couldn’t process it. His head was spinning and there was strange taste in his mouth, like someone laid a piece of copper on his tongue.

“Ask me to stop and I will,” Lugano said quietly.

Edi looked up to meet his eyes. He would swear that there was no anger in them. Just something half-amused, half-curious.

“Come on, beg and I will stop.”

Edi kept looking in Lugano’s eyes like they were the last thing that could keep him conscious. Then he slowly shook his head.

The last punch came with less force, or he was already too numb to feel it.

“I think we’re even,” Lugano said like he just got finished with some annoying paperwork.

It was quite possible that for him it felt the same.

“And now…” he said, wrapped his arm around Edi’s waist and pulled him back to his feet. “Are you still able to listen to me?” 

Edi lifted his head a little and looked at him.

“No,” he breathed and let the black cloud finally take over his mind.

 

***

 

He heard someone’s voice like from a distance, then everything started to get louder and clearer. He already recognized the voice. He would never forget it.

“Hey, look at me!”

Edi opened his eyes and turned his head carefully. Then he took a few deep breaths because he felt like he was about to vomit or to pass out again.

“Fine. You don’t have to say anything now, just listen. I think that I know why you did it. A not-so-well dressed boy hanging around the streets at night, who can start the car within seconds and is tough enough to take a trashing without saying a single word… I think you came across some pricks that pretend to be really cool and tough, those who only make annoying mess around here but will never get anywhere, and you wanted to belong with them. They told you that they’d take you in if you stole my car. Am I right?”

Edi nodded.

“Fine. So my first advice, never do that again.”

“I…” Edi licked his lips. “I have to start somewhere.”

“This is not where you start. Maybe they say that you best learn to swim when someone throws you into the water, but the truth is that you will most likely drown.” 

Lugano leaned closer. As he moved, the thick golden chain on his neck slipped from underneath his T-shirt. Edi could imagine that it had to cost him more money than he had ever seen in his life.

“I like you,” Lugano stated. “You don’t look like it, but you’re tough and you have courage. You just need someone to guide you. If you want to, you can stay and I will eventually find some work for you.”

“And if I don’t?”

Lugano smirked and got up.

“Then you can go back to your little miserable life. I don’t care. But I don’t repeat my offers.”

Edi pretended to hesitate, but he didn’t dare to hesitate for too long.

“I want to stay,” he said firmly.

 

***

 

The terrace was still full of people. Someone was celebrating his birthday and most of the guests didn’t even know whose birthday it actually was. It was just another opportunity to get wasted and kill their time. Martín and Nando were standing at the table with food, laughing over something. Lugano eyed them for a while, but they didn’t seem to notice him.

“Cáceres, put the lobster back on the plate, stop acting like even bigger idiot than you really are and come here!” he said finally.

With one last giggle, Martín put the lobster he was holding and pretending talking to Nando with on the plate, wiped his hands with a napkin and came to Lugano. 

“Muslera, you call Abreu and remind him that he should have delivered something tonight and that I won’t wait another month for it.”

“Shall I remind him nicely or…”

“Tell him that I will cut his head off and send it to his mother in a box if it’s not here tomorrow!” 

Nando gulped and nodded.

“Will do, boss.”

 

***

 

Martín walked into Lugano’s office and raised his eyebrows when he spotted Edi on the sofa.

“So you two already know each other, I suppose,” Lugano said and turned to Martín. “You will take care of him now, and when he’s able to walk again, you will teach him all that you know.”

Martín gave him a confused look.

“This kid?”

“Yes, this kid. Is there anything that isn’t clear?”

Martín chuckled and looked once again at Edi.

“You want me to…”

“Simply consider him your apprentice from now on.”

 

***

 

Lugano walked the steps to the terrace and found Nando, who was sitting at the bar.

“Did you call Abreu?” 

“No. Yes. Well…”

“So yes or no?”

“I tried, but I couldn’t reach him.”

Lugano frowned. With people like Abreu, this was highly unlikely. They might not have had fixed working hours, but they were always reachable. One never knew when a client would call.

“Try it again.”

 

***

 

“Turn off the fucking phone or I will shove it up your ass.”

Sebastián Abreu knew well that when it came to Luis Suárez, these weren’t just words. He would really do it. He looked at the display, where the digits of Fernando Muslera’s number were reproachfully blinking at him, and switched the phone off. It didn’t make him feel better, though. He knew that he was in deep shit.

“Good. And now, I heard something about a certain shipment you should have delivered to Lugano.”

“I deliver a lot of shipments,” Sebastián replied carefully.

Suárez sighed and started playing with his lighter.  _Click_ , the flame appeared.  _Clack_ , he closed the lid.  _Click. Clack._

“Don’t play stupid. I’m not talking about any of the little jobs. I’m talking about this really big shipment. I must say that I’m a little bit disappointed because I kind of expected it to be in your car, but apparently you’re smarter than that.”

“Why do you want that stuff? You have your own connections.”

Suárez laughed.

“True. I have, and my stuff is a lot cheaper as well. The thing is that Lugano’s is better and a lot of customers prefer it to mine. But no way would I pay that insane money he pays. I want something else from you, and I can promise that you will get your reward.”

“Reward for what?”

_Click. Clack. Click. Clack._  Then finally Suárez threw the lighter on the table.

“I want you to make sure that Lugano never receives this shipment. Never.”

Sebastián swallowed hard. 

“But… that would…”

“I want to get Lugano off the market. Then I will be the only one selling here. And I can set whatever price I want even for the cheaper stuff.”

It was a good plan. A damn good plan. The only thing Sebastián didn’t like about it was that it meant that he was dead either way. He could choose who he wanted to be killed by. Lugano for not delivering his shipment, or Suárez for refusing to cooperate? Then if Suárez gives him money, he could still make it to Mexico and disappear...

“How much would I get?” he asked finally.


	2. Two

The apartment Martín took Edi to was not a bad place at all, but it needed someone to take care of it. It looked like Martín couldn’t care less about where he threw his clothes or how big the mess on the table was. The bedroom looked about the same as the living room. Dirty clothes everywhere. Not that it would matter to Edi, as long as there was a bed.

“Are you up already?”

Edi blinked into the sharp light as Martín opened the windows. The sounds of the city filled the room immediately.

“Feel better?” 

“Yeah.”

“He must have liked you,” Martín noted.

“Why do you think so?”

“I’ve seen a lot of people after Lugano paid off a score with them, and you look by far the best.”

“How long have you been working for him?” Edi asked.

“About two years.”

“How did you get to it?”

A shadow appeared on Martín’s otherwise cheerful face for a second, like a cloud passing over the sun.

“I would rather not speak about it.”

That was where the conversation dried out. It was clear that they had a long journey ahead if they were to become partners.

 

***

 

“I don’t know what you’re whining about!” Nando said.

He and Martín were sitting in the empty bar, drinking coffee. 

“If Lugano thinks that you’re able to take an apprentice, it means that he thinks that you’re good.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to teach some kid. Plus, I don’t think that he will ever be any good. And I don’t like him. Since morning he’s asked about a thousand questions, and nine hundred ninety-nine of them were stupid.”

“Which one wasn’t stupid, then?”

“The one I never answer.”

“You’re being your whiny self again,” Nando smiled. “You will change your mind in two hours as I know you. Anyways, I would switch places with you right away.” 

“Why?”

“Lugano wants me to get hold of Abreu because of this shipment, but I can’t reach him on the phone.”

“Did you go to his place?” 

“Not yet.”

“So? I suppose we should go there.”

Nando looked at him.

“But you’re not supposed to…”

Martín rolled his eyes. 

“Come on, I will be of bigger use if I go with you than if I make a nurse for that kid. If he needs water, he can go to the kitchen himself.”

He reached for the car keys on the table. Nando slapped his hand away.

“I’m driving.”

“We won’t get there until midnight if you drive.”

Nando frowned and teasingly poked him in the ribs with his elbow. Then they ran out of the club, still laughing and fighting for the keys.

 

***

 

As they were going down the street that led to Abreu’s place, a streetwalker who looked like she styled herself according to Rihanna’s video with her bright red hair and striped shorts looked at them and waved.

“Hey, Charo!” Martín called out of the window. “Have you seen Abreu lately?”

“Yesterday,” she said. “Remind him that he owes me money. I reminded him yesterday but I doubt that he could hear me. He looked like he just shot up all that stuff he’s selling.”

Martín looked at Nando. Nando nodded. This smelled bad. Abreu was in town and missed delivery deadline. There had to be a reason for that.

“Fine, thanks. We’ll tell him.” 

“Don’t you have some change, by the way? With bastards like him I can’t even buy myself breakfast.”

“You mean cigarettes and vodka,” Martín corrected her and handed her two banknotes.

She took them eagerly and forced her overly glossed lips to smile.

“Thanks. I would give you some for that if you were into girls.”

Martín laughed.

“When I change my orientation, I will let you know. Take care. And by the way, nice hair.”

 

***

 

The room looked like a bomb just exploded there, or, more likely, like someone was packing their stuff in a big rush. The bag on the bed only confirmed that.

"Take it easy, Abreu, where are you rushing to?" Nando asked.

"He‘s missing his flight to Mexico, it seems," Martín noted.

Sebastián turned to them briskly. He apparently wasn‘t happy to see them.

"What... what are you doing here?" he asked.

"You forgot to deliver something, we‘re here to remind you."

Martín was leaning over the door lazily. Sebastián noticed that there was no stiffness, no nervousness in his moves anymore. Nando was still looking around him from time to time, always had his hand near the gun and never stopped watching the person who could present the potential danger. Not Martín. He was pretty sure about himself. Sebastián knew that if it was just Nando there, he could try sorting things out with him. He could bribe him. Persuade him to join his side. Or kill him, if he had to. But like this, he was screwed. 

“Where is the stuff?” Nando asked.

“I don’t have it.”

“What do you mean that you don’t have it?”

Sebastián sat on the pile of clothes on his bed.

“You got to understand, I… Suárez…” 

“You’re making deals with Suárez now?” Martín asked sharply.

“What was I supposed to do? He told me that if I make sure Lugano never receives the stuff, he will give me money and…”

_Fuck_. He should have put it otherwise. But he was never good with words.

“So you just jumped on it,” Nando said. “And you think Lugano will just say ‘never mind, I didn’t really need it’ or what?”

“Suárez would kill me if I didn’t do it!” 

“Where is the stuff?”

“I gave it to Suárez.”

“Even better!” Martín exploded. “Are you just fucking mad? I… Nando, give Lugano a call and tell him that I beg him to allow me to kill this rat.”

Nando pulled out a cell phone and dialed a number.

“Yes… yes, we’re at his place. No, he’s here. Listen, boss, I know you’re angry, but… OK, I will.”

He handed the phone to Martín. 

“Yes, it’s me. Well, apparently he gave all the stuff to Suárez because Suárez promised him money if he makes sure you never receive the shipment. Yeah, I will.” 

He shut the phone and handed it back to Nando. Then he pulled out his gun.

“Wait for me outside. Start the car.”

 

***

                                                                                                 

Detective Diego Forlán looked around the messy place that Sebastián Abreu used to call home when he was still alive. His team was still searching for traces, but Diego knew quite well that they wouldn‘t find anything significant. The killer – or killers – didn‘t look for money or anything else. It was a clear execution. 

"Finish it here, I will go outside and look if I can find some witnesses,“ he said.

Somebody noted that around here people were blind and deaf whenever something smelled bad, which was true, but he had to try it anyways. 

On the corner he almost bumped into a red-haired girl. He could tell just by the clothes she was wearing what her job was. She looked at the badge he showed her and made a face.

“Good afternoon, Miss.”

Charo made a bubble of her gum and made it burst in front of Diego’s face. He made no comment about it.

“Know this guy?” he asked and showed her a picture of Abreu.

“Hell yeah, sir. That’s Sebastián fucking prick Abreu. He owes me fucking money.”

“When did you last see him?”

“Yesterday night.”

“Did you see anyone here this morning?”

Charo gave him a suspicious look. She wasn’t new. She knew how it worked.

“Well, a lot of people.”

“I mean someone who would be asking for him, or just anyone who would… catch your attention.”

“You caught my attention,” she cooed. “Would you be up for some fun when you’re finished here?” 

Diego made no comment about that either.

“I was asking if anyone was looking for Mr. Abreu or not.”

“Nobody as sexy as you.” 

Diego sighed. Charo looked like she was having great fun. But despite her appearance and attitude, she wasn’t stupid at all. She could count for herself. She would get nothing from this cop if she told him anything, or maybe just some change. But if Martín and Nando knew that she didn’t give them away, she would get money whenever she’d ask for some. 

“No, sir,” she said finally. “Nobody was looking for him.”

 

***

 

Martín was sitting in Lugano’s office. He expected his boss to be mad, so he better sent Nando home. It was better if he was alone with Lugano when he needed to ventilate his anger on someone. Martín didn’t really understand it, but he was somehow protective of Nando. Sometimes even so protective that it made Nando feel uncomfortable. 

“It’s pretty clear, Suárez wants to get you off the market,” he said when he recounted the events of the morning.

Lugano nodded.

“And he probably will, if I don’t do anything. I still have something in stock, but I need to find a new source, quickly.”

“What about your contacts with the Peruvians?” 

Lugano sighed.

“Yeah, that could work, but I wanted to avoid it. Vargas and his group are terrible to make deals with. They charge extra because of the risks at the borders. Like there was any for someone like them, for fuck’s sake.”

“I don’t think you have other choices right now. At least the stuff they have is of good quality. Even better than Abreu’s.”

Lugano nodded again.

“I hope you got rid of that rat properly,” he said then. “I don’t want the cops around here.” 

“They won’t find anything. But likely they will be here for some time. They know by now that it’s all about you and Suárez.”

Lugano narrowed his eyes.

“Only now it will be about me and Suárez. He wants the war, he will have it.”

Martín got up and headed for the door. When Lugano started making plans to destroy someone, it was better to get out of his way. Sometimes he was lucky to get away while Lugano was busy thinking about revenge on someone. But he knew he wasn’t lucky this time, as Lugano grabbed his wrist and pulled him back.

“Where are you rushing to?” he smiled.

Martín knew that he was walking on thin ice. The smile, however sweet it looked, couldn’t fool him anymore.

“Well, I haven’t checked on your protégé yet.” 

This was a safe answer. He wasn’t running away, he wanted to do what Lugano had told him to do, so there was no way he could punish him for it.

“Oh, I forgot!” Lugano smirked. “So we will do it quickly this time, eh?” 

The space between them shrunk to inches. Martín closed his eyes as Lugano’s lips brushed against his. He focused his entire mind on just one thing, not to shudder. Not to shudder. Because it was just what his body wanted to do when he felt Lugano’s fingers in his hair.

“You know it already,” Lugano whispered in his ear. “On your knees.”

 

***

 

Edi heard Martín unlock the door, then kick off his shoes and throw the keys on the table. When he walked into the living room, Martín was already sitting on the couch, staring at the ceiling blankly. He seemed not to notice at all that he wasn’t alone.

“Are you alright?” Edi asked finally.

Martín looked at him like he just now remembered that he was supposed to be there. He took a breath, but then he changed his mind and decided to frown instead of opening his mind. 

“Look, I had a really bad day and I don’t have the nerves for dealing with you now.”

Edi didn’t say anything. Martín looked at the ceiling again, then, when he didn’t hear any sound, he looked back at Edi.

“Will you just stand here and stare at me?”

Edi shrugged.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

“Have some coffee, fuck some bitches or whatever you want, just get out of here, for fuck’s sake!” Martín yelled and tossed a few banknotes in Edi’s direction.

Edi took them and blinked in surprise. He could buy so many coffees for them that he wouldn’t probably drink them in a week.

He opened the door, then he turned back once more and looked at Martín, who was lying on the couch, his face buried in the small pillows that lay in the corner of the couch.

He would swear on his life that he was crying.

 

***

 

Diego entered a small bistro on the corner. He just left the office and he realized that he didn’t even have time to have coffee that day. In the morning he was working on some older case and then he spent the afternoon in the worst quarter, trying to solve the murder of some criminal nobody would really miss. He felt like a lemon that somebody squeezed as many times as it could be squeezed, until there was really no juice left.

He stood in the queue at the counter. The air in the bistro was thick because of bad air-conditioning and it smelled of coffee, cigarettes and some pastry. The smell of pastry being baked always made him feel sick.

The boy in front of him ordered coffee and handed the waitress a banknote. She looked into the cash register and sighed.

“Don’t you have some... smaller money?” 

“No.”

She looked around desperately. The queue was getting longer and people looked stressed. 

“Let me buy it,” Diego said. “Make it two, and count them together.” 

He didn’t know why he said it. It simply flew out of his mouth before he could think it over. The boy turned around and smiled. His smile was charming, despite his broken lip. There was something movingly innocent in that smile, but something sad as well. His eyes still had the pure naivety of a child, they were warm and trusting. After the day spent in the worst place this city could offer, this boy looked like a lily in a field of thistle to Diego.

“Thank you,” he said. “But I will pay you back.”

“No, you don’t have to. It’s no big deal.”

The waitress handed Diego the two cups and took the money. 

“Sit with me?” the boy offered to him.

Diego smiled and headed to the free table in the corner, close to the big television screen on the wall. Some game was on, and if he didn’t go in here, he would be likely watching it home alone.

“Oh, I’m Diego, by the way.” 

It’s been so long since he last introduced himself just as ‘Diego’ and not ‘Detective Forlán’, that he felt utterly stupid and awkward doing it. But the boy didn’t seem to notice. He smiled and took the hand Diego had reached out towards him.

“Edi.”

His hand was warm and smooth, it felt almost like a hand of a young woman. Diego caught himself imagining how this hand would feel caressing his cheek, how these fingers would play with his hair, how they would then brush the skin of his neck before sliding to his chest. He shook his head rapidly. He didn’t know what came over him. He wasn’t supposed to have thoughts like this.

“You look upset,” Edi noted when Diego put sugar in his coffee.

“Just a bad day overall. Work troubles and such.”

“Yeah, same for me.”  

Diego’s eyes landed on the broken lip and the bruise on his left cheek, partially covered by his hair. It was confusing. This boy looked nothing like one that would like fighting. He knew guys like that, they simply fought for the joy it was bringing them. He knew the ones from the bad quarters as well, where one didn’t even know how he came to bruises in the better case, to a bullet in the worse. But Edi didn’t look like one of those from the bad quarters either. He looked like a well-brought-up son of not very rich, but good parents. Lower middle-class perhaps, and not a big city.

“You’re not from here, right?” Diego asked.

“No. Just came here a few weeks ago.”

“Do you like the city?" 

Edi shrugged. 

“A little too big for me. I still haven’t figured out where to go for what.”

“There are certain places where you shouldn’t go at all.”

Edi gave him a smile that looked a bit guilty. Like he knew exactly what places he was talking about, and he already went there. 

Diego realized that he sounded too much like a preaching dad, or rather, he sounded too much like a cop. He simply couldn’t talk otherwise.  _This_  was the way he was used to talk. He tried to find topics that – at least he thought so – normal people found neutral and appropriate for conversation with someone they’d just met. He never knew how hard it was.

_There is the game, Diego, try talking about that. Say the coffee tastes terrible._

“Do you go here often?” Edi asked and got him out of his misery. 

“No. Just in... the cases of caffeine emergency.”

Edi smiled.

“I thought so.” 

“Why?”

“Because this coffee would poison you by now if you drank it often.”  
  
Diego laughed. After all, it wasn’t that hard.


	3. Three

The phone was ringing somewhere in the room. It took Edi quite a long time to locate it under a pile of clothes on the armchair. He looked at the display. Incoming call from Nando. As far as he remembered, Nando was the other man with Martín the night they met. He answered the phone. 

“Hello?”

“Who’s that?” Nando sounded suspicious immediately. 

“Edi. I’m in Martín’s apartment.”

“Ah, okay. Yeah, he told me. Is he there?”

“Yeah, but he’s asleep. I think he got too much to drink yesterday.”

“Did he?”

Now Nando sounded if not worried, then at least confused. 

“I mean, he doesn’t normally do that. Did he tell you anything?”

“He told me he had a bad day and threw me out of the apartment. That’s all. When I got back at night, there were just the empty bottles and he was asleep.”

There was silence on the other end.

“Listen, I will be there in half an hour. If he wakes up, tell him to wait for me.”

“Sure. I think he won’t wake up anytime soon, though.”

Nando mumbled something and hung up. Edi threw the phone on the table and opened the window. That place needed some fresh air.

 

***

 

Martín was still asleep when Nando arrived. The sound of the doorbell didn’t seem to disturb him at all. Edi opened the door. Nando walked in and looked around.

“Still didn’t wake up?”

“No.”

Nando sighed as he examined the mess on the table.

“I don’t know him like this. I mean, sure, yesterday was kind of… intense, but I don’t think it was anything...”

“He was crying.” 

Nando’s eyebrows shot up.

“What?”

“When I was leaving the apartment. He was crying.”

“Are you sure?” 

Edi shrugged. He wasn’t sure, but something was telling him that he wasn’t wrong either. 

Nando made his way to the bedroom. He drew the curtains open and opened the window. Then he sat on the bed and shook his friend.  

“Martín. Hey. Can you hear me?”

Martín groaned, opened his eyes and looked at him sleepily.

“Nando?”

“What the fuck are you doing?” Nando asked. “What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing, I just drank a bit too much.”

“Yeah, I noticed. Go to the bathroom and take a shower. Lugano wants to talk to us.”

Edi noticed the shadow on Martín’s face, same as when he asked him about how he started working for Lugano. It didn’t seem like Nando noticed it too, though.

“I told him we’d be there in two hours. So do something, he won’t be happy if he sees you like this.”

Martín sat up and placed a hand on his forehead. Nando wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him to his feet.

“Bathroom, darling. Shower.”

He couldn’t help himself, he had to laugh. 

“I know where my bathroom is.”

“Fine. Us two will try to clean this mess in the meanwhile.”

Martín looked at Edi, who was standing at the doorstep.

“Sorry... about yesterday...” he mumbled.

“It’s alright.”

Martín made a gesture that was probably meant to show further remorse, and headed to the bathroom. Nando turned to Edi and shook his head.

“I really don’t know what came over him.”

 

***

 

Luis Suárez parked his car in the garage, ran the stairs up and unlocked the door to his apartment. It’s been a few days since he got some good sleep, but big jobs asked for big sacrifices.

He took off his clothes and went to have a shower immediately. It always helped him to clean his head. There were so many things he still had to do.

When he turned off the shower, he felt a lot better. It was time for breakfast, late breakfast maybe, but he wasn’t hungry. The only thing he could think about was his bed.

A few hours of sleep was just what he needed. After that, he had an important call to make.

 

***

 

When Nando stopped the car in front of the club, he immediately noticed two police officers at the end of the street. 

“What do we do?” he asked Martín.

“What? We enter. There’s nothing illegal about it.”

“I mean... if they go inside, they have us served on a silver plate, all three.” 

“They have nothing on us. And if they want to arrest Lugano, first, I wouldn’t give a damn, and second, it will only happen in my best dreams.”

Nando laughed.

“I love how you keep saying how much you hate him, but in fact you’re his pet and you know it.”

“I’m nobody’s pet.”

Nando blinked rapidly at Martín’s response. It was too harsh, too sharp, too hostile. It sounded nothing like him. He was usually getting Nando’s humor.

“Seriously, Martín, what’s wrong with you?” he asked. 

“Nothing.” 

“Come on.”

“Nothing, I’m hangover, that’s all.”

It was only half of an answer. Nando wanted to ask why he drank so much last night and if what Edi told him was true. But before he could take a breath, Martín was already heading to the entrance. 

“Come on, Nando, whatever it is, I want to be done with it quickly!” he called.

 

***

 

Luis turned on his phone that he had switched off before he went to bed. He knew that those kids like Eguren and Coates would call him whenever they couldn’t tie their shoes, and especially when he told them not to call him unless it was a question of life and death.  _His_  life and death, of course, he didn’t care about their life enough to answer the phone when he was busy.

He dialed the prefix for Colombia and then the number. 

“Hello?” a voice in the phone said. 

“Hi, Radamel.”

“Oh, Luis. You’re still alive!” Radamel Falcao’s lazy voice said. “It’s been a while since I last heard from you, I can tell you.”

“Sorry, but I was busy. It’s a bit hectic now, you know.”

“I  _hope_  it is. How’s our business going?”

“Great so far. Lugano will be off the market now, I made sure he will. The guy he was getting the stuff from wasn’t hard to convince to change the coat he was wearing. Unfortunately Lugano’s people killed him the next day and didn’t bother with covering it up so we will have the cops around for some time. They’re not that stupid not to know that it had something to do with me and Lugano.” 

“Everything that happens in your place has something to do with you two, yeah. I’m not surprised that they are always after you.”

“So, what about our deal now?”

There was silence on the other end.

“I won’t risk anything with the cops around,” Radamel said finally. “Call me when the situation gets better.” 

“But...” 

“You still have enough, it has to do until it’s safe to make the next deal.” 

Luis hung up and cursed quietly. He hated it when things weren’t going the way he planned.

 

***

 

Martín and Nando were sitting in Lugano’s office. From the look on Lugano’s face Martín could tell that since previous day, he only calmed down a little bit. He looked composed as usual, but Martín was sure he would explode at one single mention of Luis Suárez.   

Not that at any other time he wouldn’t.

“Muslera, I want you to take Fucile tonight and go get the money from all who are yet to pay. And let them know that from now on, they pay when they get the stuff, not later.” 

Nando frowned from a moment, but after Martín poked him in his ribs, he decided not to say anything.

“And as for you…” Lugano turned to Martín. “I got a customer who wants to buy a lot. Tomorrow, here.”

Martín looked at the address on a piece of paper Lugano handed him. Then he looked at his boss.

“That’s on Suárez’s turf!”

Lugano raised his eyebrows.

“So what? Didn’t he steal my stuff? So how could he complain when I sell on his turf?”

Martín didn’t answer, but his expression probably said enough. On the contrary, there was an almost mischievous grin on Lugano’s face.

“It’s Suárez who started this war. Not me.”

Martín knew that. And he also knew that Lugano was right. The problem was that in this war, Lugano was the general making the strategy on a map, in the safety of his office. Martín was the soldier.

 

***

 

If there was something that Diego Forlán hated more than criminals, it was paperwork that involved criminals. Usually he tried to avoid it as much as possible, and he had to admit that sometimes his conscience wasn’t entirely clean when it came to protocols and reports. 

This time, however, was different. He was flipping through the pages of some sergeant’s report concerning the events of the other day. This sergeant probably hated paperwork as much as Diego did, because it seemed to Diego it couldn’t be less detailed. He was the last person who could judge him, but suddenly it irritated him.

A shadow fell on his desk and Diego looked up to see his boss, Oscar Tabárez, looking at him.

“Take no offense, Diego, but honestly, this is the first time in ages I see you being really interested in a case,” Tabárez chuckled.

Diego leaned back in his chair. His boss was somebody he had respect for, but also someone he could talk to almost as he would to his father or best friend.

“You know, last night I met someone who kind of changed my view.”

“Changed?”

“Yeah. Suddenly I thought that there weren’t just these bastards who traffic drugs and shoot each other. I saw that there were still people worth doing this job for. I mean… people worth protecting.” 

His boss nodded. Diego looked at the report on the table.

“I know there have been too many cases like this that never got solved and honestly, I didn’t care much. But this time it’s different. I know the one who did it relies on the fact that we will put it to rest soon and he will be alright. It happened many times before. But it won’t happen this time.”

“Keep it up, then,” Tabárez smiled and tapped Diego on the shoulder.

Diego looked out of the window where the sun was shining brightly. It was a hot day and for once he was glad that he was stuck with the paperwork in an air-conditioned office and didn’t have to be outside patrolling the streets.

“Not this time,” he whispered to himself and opened the report again.

 

***

 

Nando let his anger out as soon as they got to the terrace, far enough from Lugano’s office.

“What the hell is this?” he spat out. “So I’m supposed to work with Fucile now? And what is this bullshit about paying on the spot? It’s not a question of two grams, most the dealers have to get the money first so that they can pay us back, it always worked like that and it was why they made the deals with us. Why does he want to be like everyone else now?” 

“Calm down, Nando!” Martín said quietly. “Lugano can’t wait for money now. It functioned like that because Abreu was okay with that. If Lugano wants to make deals with the Peruvians now, he has to have the money before he even calls Vargas.”

Nando opened his mouth and closed it again.

“The Peruvians?” he said then. “I thought he would rather make deals with giant spiders or something.”

“He has no other choice.” 

Nando sat on one of the leather sofas and folded his arms. 

“Still, I’m really pissed.”

“Why?” 

“Fucile!” Nando frowned. “He’s annoying. I might kill him if he starts with his stupid jokes.”

Martín laughed.

“You won’t. See, you’re annoying as well, and I still haven’t killed you!” 

“So I’m annoying, eh?” Nando yelled and stood up, attempting an intimidating face.

It made Martín laugh even more. 

“Actually,” he said. “I think you and Fucile will be great partners.” 

 

***

 

Diego Lugano looked at the phone and frowned. He’s been postponing that phone call since early afternoon. 

He would rather call his mother-in-law than Juan Manuel Vargas. Unfortunately, his mother-in-law didn’t have what he needed. 

He considered having another mate before calling. Then he remembered that he already had two and would probably overdose on caffeine if he had another so soon. 

He sighed and dialed the number.

 

***

 

Nando stopped the car in front of Martín’s house. It was strange that he was going to work that night and Martín wasn’t. He probably got used to them working together too much. But the thought of a whole night spent with someone he found utterly annoying was driving him crazy. 

“Good luck with Fucile!” Martín said. “Try not to kill him.”

“Thanks!” Nando grinned. “By the way, can I tell you something?”

Martín looked at him and nodded.

“You try stop giving that boy shit. He barely knows you, but he actually really cares about you, you know.” 

Martín blinked. Nando was rarely being that serious.

“I will try,” he said then. “After all, maybe I won’t have to bother with him after tomorrow.”

“Why?”

Martín shrugged.

“If I take him with me to Suárez’s turf… One never knows where a bullet can come from.”

“Your jokes are terribly cynical, you know?” Nando frowned.

Martín grinned and opened the door. Nando hesitated for a while, then reached out and grabbed his hand.

“Martín!”

“Yeah?”

“Just… be careful tomorrow, okay?”

Martín smiled weakly and nodded. He always tried to be careful. But it didn’t always work.

 

***

 

Edi looked up from the sofa when Martín opened the door and threw the keys on the table.

“What the hell happened to this place?” Martín asked, looking around.

“I cleaned it up a little bit,” Edi said.

“Did you throw all my clothes out of the window?”

“No, to the washing machine. It seemed like you couldn’t find it in the bathroom.”

“Oh, so we’re bitchy today!” Martín grinned. “Well, I like you more like this than when you’re trying to act like Mother Teresa.” 

He made his way to the kitchen. There was some clinking of glass, then Martín appeared again. He sat in the armchair and put his feet on the now empty table.

“Have you ever fired a gun?” he asked.

“Why?” 

“Because I’m going to work tomorrow. And you’re going with me. So just in case, I’m asking if you had ever fired a gun.”

“Air gun.”

Martín got up and went to the bedroom. Edi could hear him opening the wardrobe and shuffling some things. Then he blinked when Martín handed him a gun. 

“So you know what to do with this?”

“Will I need it?” Edi asked quietly.

Martín shrugged.

“You never know.”

Then he grabbed the keys from the table and without another word shut the door of the apartment behind him.

Edi remained still on the sofa, his hands slowly warming up the cold metal he was holding.


	4. Four

Luis was sitting in his office at a disco club. He was only staying there when it was closed, because he hated disco music, or any loud music. He bought it just because it was a good washing machine for dirty money, and because the people he was making deals with looked more inconspicuous walking into a disco than they would walking into a wellness centre.

During mornings like this, though, Luis wished he had bought a wellness centre instead. A massage or an hour in a swimming pool would come handy.

There was a knock on the door. Luis cursed quietly as he was just about to have his first coffee and hoped to enjoy it in peace.

“What?” he yelled.

The door opened slowly like the person behind them was afraid of Luis throwing something at him. Then Sebastián Coates walked in.

“What is it?” Luis snapped. “You can’t find your gun again?” 

Sebastián wanted to object that it happened to him only once and since the unfortunate night when he slightly panicked about losing it before remembering that he had left it in his car everyone kept mocking him about it, but Luis was his boss, so after all, he could mock him however he pleased.

“No. Somebody wants to talk to you.”

“Who?”

“He didn’t say his name, but he says that he knows something that could interest you.”

Luis sighed.

“Make sure he doesn’t have a gun or a grenade or something, and bring him here.”

Sebastián nodded and closed the door behind him. Luis finished his coffee and looked at the clock. If someone came to tell him something at nine in the morning when most of those who usually worked at night were still asleep, it had to be something important.  

 

***

 

Martín was heading to the transit shed where he was supposed to pick up the stuff he had to sell that night. Usually he went with Nando; this was the first time in about a year that he was doing something alone. Nando wasn’t assigned to this job by Lugano, probably he was still asleep after previous night. Martín remembered the moment in the car when Nando told him to be careful. It was slightly awkward. Like there was more to be said, and then like nothing had to be said at all. He didn’t remember a moment like that between them. Sure, this was probably the most dangerous thing he was about to do since he joined Lugano’s gang, and also the first time they weren’t in it together. But he couldn’t shake the weird feeling off.

He didn’t take Edi with him. It would be a stupid thing to do. The transit shed was something only a few members of the gang knew about, and taking someone there before he even proved that he would belong to the gang was unthinkable.

As he was passing the quarter where Abreu used to live, Charo waved at him. He stopped the car and to his surprise, she hopped in and closed the door.

“Go somewhere we can talk!” she said.

“I thought you already knew I wasn’t interested in girls!” he laughed, but drove to an old gas station behind the corner.

Charo turned to him and shifted on the seat to scratch her leg.

“So you killed Abreu, eh?” she grinned. 

“Does it make you sad?” 

Charo laughed.

“I don’t give a damn about bastards like him.”

“So why are we here?” 

Charo pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her handbag and lit one.

“Maybe you should know that there was this cop asking nosy questions.” 

“Asking you?”

She nodded.

“You know the stuff… if I saw anyone around, if anyone asked about Abreu, if I knew anyone who had a… how do they call it again, a motive or something…”

“Well, what did you tell him?”

“Nothing, of course,” she snapped. “What would I get for that? Nothing from him and a bullet to the head from you or one of your friends. I thought you’d maybe appreciate the help more than he could.”

Martín sighed and pulled out a few banknotes. He held them out and drew them back when Charo hungrily made a grab for them. 

“How did he look like? That cop?” he asked.

“Not your type.”

“Fuck you, you have no idea what my type is.”

Charo smirked.

“Well… blonde, curly hair, about as tall as you... Quite boring, too. His name was Detective F… something.”  
  
Martín nodded and handed her the money.  

“If he appears again, let me know, alright?”

“Sure!”

He started the car. Charo put the money into her handbag and made herself comfortable in the seat.

“Where’s Nando, by the way?” she asked. 

“He has other work.”

“Oh,” she pouted. “And I thought you were inseparable. Like those Siamese twins, you know.”

Martín gave her a death stare. Charo grinned and leaned over him, her strong patchouli perfume almost making him sick. A smacking sound and a pop sounded behind his ear, before she pulled out a pack of bubble-gum out of her handbag.  

“Want a gum?” she asked.

Martín decided that in the ranking of annoying people she stood right under Edi.

 

***

 

The car was passing the still crowded streets slowly. Martín didn't rush. They had plenty of time to get to the meeting point on time.

“You’re nervous?” Edi asked. 

“It’s not good if you’re not nervous,” Martín said. “If you’re too sure about yourself, you’re asking for trouble. Especially in cases like this.” 

“Why is this so special?”

Martín sighed. He hated answering questions, but then he reminded himself that Edi probably knew nothing about what was going on in this city. And not knowing anything about what he was in the middle of was really bad.

“Have you ever heard of Luis Suárez?” he asked.

“No.” 

“I suppose you lived somewhere in a cave, then, because pretty much everyone has heard about him. He’s the second biggest bastard in this city, after Lugano. Of course, Suárez likes to think he’s the biggest one. Well, Suárez and Lugano really don’t like each other. But Lugano has his own business and Suárez has his. They always kind of… coexisted. They both had their own turf, their own customers, their own people. There was a boundary. Fragile, but there was.”

“And?”

“Well, then Suárez crossed the line.”

“What did he do?”

“Tried to get Lugano off the market. It had something to do with who Lugano was getting the stuff from, it’s not important.”

“So… what’s going on now?” 

Martín sighed and shrugged.

“War.”

“In what sense?”

“In the sense that the two are going to act like little kids and we’re going to risk our lives because of that, if you’re asking me.” 

Edi looked out of the window. The city was magical at night. The centre definitely, with all the lights and people. So different from where he grew up. It looked safe somehow. Big enough to get lost in, to stay anonymous. Nobody would guess some war was going on in there.

“Lugano wants me to make a deal tonight, on Suárez’s turf,” Martín explained. “He thinks it will piss Suárez off. I don’t think it will. I think Suárez didn’t cross the line just to play around like this. He’s after something big.” 

“You seem to know him quite well. I mean Suárez.” 

It wasn’t a statement, it was actually meant to be a question. Martín turned to Edi and looked him in the eyes.

“Remember when you asked me how I started working for Lugano?”

Edi nodded.

“Before that, I used to work for Suárez.”

“And…”

“That’s all I will ever tell you, alright?” he snapped and lit a cigarette.

He didn’t even know why he even told him that. Of course everyone knew it, but he wasn’t usually the one they knew it from.

More than ever he had the feeling that he was doing something he didn’t like at all.

 

***

 

Nando was sitting at the bar, playing with a bunch of cocktail umbrellas. He almost didn’t notice when Jorge Fucile sat next to him, grabbed a paper umbrella and tucked it behind his ear.

“Hey!” he said. “Bad day?”

“Last night was bad, yeah, ‘cause I spent it with you,” Nando murmured. “Today isn’t much better.”

He downed the glass in front of him in one gulp. The words kept flying around his head like annoying flies and he couldn’t make them go away. The things he should have said a lot earlier and never did. He felt the slight stabbing pain inside, almost like a feeling of guilt. Sure, he thought about it all the time, but tonight they were louder. He didn’t even know why. 

“Tomorrow,” he whispered to himself. “Tomorrow I will tell him.”

“Who?” Jorge’s voice asked next to him.

Nando almost fell off his chair. He forgot about him completely. 

“You’re still here?” he frowned.

The girl behind the bar poured him another drink without asking. When Jorge’s phone rang and he got up, Nando breathed a sigh of relief.

He couldn’t imagine working with this one. He couldn’t imagine it at all.

 

***

 

The place behind the old factory was empty. Martín hated places like this. They triggered bad memories. He had to take a deep breath to remind himself what he had to do. Then he turned to Edi.

“Stay in the car.”

“But…”

“I said stay in the car. You’re not missing anything.”

“Then why am I here?” 

“Maybe to learn to shut up at the right time. So far you’ve learned nothing.”

He banged the door behind him. 

“Why me?” he sighed.

 

***

 

The building was an ordinary abandoned factory. There was almost nothing inside, because everything that could be sold at least as scrap iron got stolen throughout the years. That was also why there were neither guards nor cameras. In fact it still belonged to someone, but Martín doubted that the owner would want to do something with it. Probably he was just waiting for it to crumble down.

He took a few steps, when he heard something move behind him. His brain immediately sent the danger signals to his body. He turned around briskly, but there was nothing. He took another two steps and stopped. This time it wasn’t his imagination.

Even his imagination wasn’t that good to imagine two bullets hitting the chambers. He reached for his gun instinctively.

“Don’t even try that!” a voice behind his back said. 

“I think you’re on the wrong place!” added a second voice.

He thought that he knew the second voice. It was possible, because these were clearly Suárez’s people.

The situation was familiar, so familiar, and yet it was making him almost sick. Maybe because it was so familiar. If he didn’t know what to expect, he could still have some hope. He could believe in a miracle. But he knew what to expect and also knew miracles didn’t usually happen twice. Not to him. 

There were thousands of thoughts going through his mind at once. Nando was among the first, and the awkward moment in the car. He warned him to be careful and he was all but careful, but what did it matter now? It surprised him when he found himself thinking about Lugano, and dismissed that thought immediately.  _You won’t be the last thing on my mind._  Another surprise was that shiver that he felt running down his spine when he thought of Edi.  _For God’s sake, stay where you are._

The first shot came so unexpectedly that his body wasn’t even able to react. The second one followed in what could have been two seconds, but it felt like eternity. His brain couldn’t process what was happening. He turned around and looked at the two bodies on the dirty floor. Then he dragged his eyes up.

Edi was staring at him, his eyes wide, the gun shaking in his hands.

 


	5. Five

Martín took a deep breath. There was a whole variety of emotions and thoughts going through him, and he didn’t quite know which ones to choose.

“You motherfucking… stupid…” he blurted out.

Angry. Yes, he was angry with Edi. He told him to stay in the car and he didn’t. If he did, though, Martín would probably be dead by now.

Yelling at the man who had just saved his life maybe wasn’t the best reaction.

“What the hell were you thinking? You could have been dead even before me. Did you even think of that?” he hissed.

Edi’s answer was simple and honest.

“No.”

Martín sighed. He couldn’t even be angry anymore. It would be like being angry with a child who didn’t really know how dangerous something was.

“Let’s get out of here,” he said finally.

 

***

 

Nando was ready to go home. Nothing big was about to happen at the club that night and he had no work either. He had stopped drinking just at the right time when he was getting a bit tipsy, and then pretended that he had to talk to someone, just to get rid of Fucile.

He spent almost an hour talking to the urinal at the staff restroom, but that didn’t matter. It was still better than Fucile.

His phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Martín’s number.

A few moments later, though, he was glad that he found a chair to sit on.

“What?” he breathed out. “Are you… are you alright?”

“I’m not fucking alright!” Martín yelled, which convinced Nando, that he was in fact alright, just incredibly angry. “Are you at the club?”

“Yeah. I was just going home…”

“Go and tell Lugano.”

“What do you want me to tell him?”

“That today is Friday, and tomorrow it’s Saturday and my pet hamster just died! Go and tell him what happened, dumb ass!”

Nando couldn’t help but smile. Martín was  _definitely_  alright.

“Why don’t you call him yourself?” he asked then, a little bit confused. Martín was usually the one talking to Lugano, sometimes it ever seemed like he wanted to get Nando out of Lugano’s way as much as possible.

There was silence on the other end. When Martín spoke again, he sounded much less angry and more tired.

“Just tell him, okay? Tell him I will come to see him as soon as I can.” 

“Okay.” 

Nando stuck the phone back into his pocket and quickly made his way through the club to Lugano’s office.

 

***

 

Martín pulled over on a parking lot of some gas station. He simply had to stop. His hands hurt and only now he realized how tight he had been gripping the wheel.

As soon as the car stopped, Edi opened the door, got out of the car and without even bothering to close it behind him, he disappeared behind the building. 

Martín kept staring at the windshield where a few drops of rain appeared. Then he remembered Nando’s words.  _Stop giving the boy shit._

He got out of the car, closed his and Edi’s door and locked it. He found Edi sitting on the curb behind the shop. He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t really good at talking to people in general. Nando was an expert when it came to this. Martín regretted that he never really tried to learn something from him.

“Are you alright?” he asked finally.

Edi looked at him. His eyes were covered with a transparent veil of tears. It gave them a strange glint. 

“Why is it so easy?” he whispered. “Pulling the trigger. Why is it so damn easy?” 

Martín couldn’t remember how he felt or looked when he first killed someone. But he had the feeling that it was more or less similar.

_Words wouldn’t help._

He reached out and pulled Edi into a hug. 

“Come here,” he said quietly. “You stupid, stupid thing.”

 

***

 

Sebastián Coates was pacing around the storage room behind the bar, while his friend Sebastián Eguren was sitting on a pile of boxes, watching him nervously.

“You  _have_  to tell him,” Eguren said. “Better tell him now.”

“Why don’t  _you_  tell him what happened, then?” Coates snapped.

“I didn’t start this all, if you remember.”

Coates sighed. 

“He will kill me.”

“No, he won’t.”

Eguren gave him what was supposed to be an encouraging look. Coates walked out of the storage room and knocked at the office door. 

“What?” Luis Suárez’s usual annoyed voice called. 

Coates walked in and closed the door behind him.

He felt like he would rather walk into a lion’s cage.

 

***

 

Martín entered the club and headed straight to Lugano’s office. He didn’t bother to knock. He just opened the door, stormed in and banged it behind him. 

“Did you know about it?” 

Lugano looked up from some papers he was reading. That calm, almost lazy movement made Martín even angrier.

“Or is this even how you planned it? Getting rid of me?”

Lugano got up from his chair. Martín expected him to throw him out immediately, or to punch him, whatever would be a reaction he already knew. But instead, Lugano just stood by the rainy window and looked out.

“I never thought you liked me, but I never expected you to think such disgusting things about me either,” he said quietly.

Martín took a breath, but didn’t know what to say. Lugano turned to him.

“Do you really think that I’m like that?”

“I don’t know what I should think.”

Lugano walked up to him and looked him in the eyes. Martín hated it. It was giving him flashbacks he was scared of.

“If I wanted to get rid of you, I would have done it myself. I don’t value you that little as I value the rats like Abreu. And if I knew this would happen, I would have never sent you there.”

“Why would you care?”

“I just told you. You would be worth my bullet. Do you think I wouldn’t care if Suárez’s men wanted to kill you?”

“You don’t like when he touches things that you own, that’s what you want to say.”

Martín didn’t know where he took the courage to say something like this from. It simply came to his mind and he said it.

Lugano stepped back. Martín looked at him and blinked in surprise.

“You’re not angry?” he asked. 

“Angry? No. Disappointed, maybe. Aggrieved, that might be the word.”

Martín’s head was spinning. It felt like all the emotions of the world decided to be inside him at once. He felt almost embarrassed, and hated himself for it. On the other hand, he didn’t really know if he trusted Lugano, and something was telling him that it was crazy to think that he could have possibly hurt him just with words.   

“I think you should go home and get some sleep,” Lugano said quietly. “You need it.”

Martín nodded and headed to the door. Then he stopped and turned back. 

“If you didn’t know about it…”

Lugano looked at him.

“Then it means we have a rat in here.”

Lugano nodded.

“Don’t worry about that. We will find him soon.”

 

***

 

“What did you just say?” 

Luis Suárez was angry, and when he was angry, he hated people stuttering, repeating themselves, rambling or not giving clear answers in general. 

Unfortunately, Sebastián Coates didn’t seem to be able to provide him with clear answers, and it was getting worse the bigger Luis’ anger was.

“I said… well, we went there, okay?”

“I understood, otherwise you wouldn’t know that it happened. And?”

 “Well, either he saw them going in and waited for them…”

“They were waiting for  _him_. They wouldn’t go in before him, they were not Eguren and you. What’s your other version?”

“He wasn’t alone.”

Luis scratched his nose.

“Maybe you’re not entirely stupid.”

It encouraged Coates a little bit. At least he stopped flinching every time Luis moved.

“What shall we do now?”

“I want to know who the other one was.”

“But how…”

“I said I wanted to know who shot two of my people. Is there something you didn’t understand?”

Coates gulped.

“No. I… I will…” 

“You will now fuck off, because I’ve had enough of you. And you will tell Eguren to bring his ass here.”

“But he knows as much as I do, so…” Coates blurted out.

Luis sighed heavily.

“Coates, I said I wanted Eguren to bring his  _ass_. Not brain.”

Coates turned to the door briskly and stormed out of the room. Luis sat in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment. 

He could almost see Cáceres’ mischievous, winning smile in front of him.

_I should have never underestimated that little traitor._

 

***

 

Martín unlocked the door to his apartment. The lights were out. He switched them on and almost shrieked.

“Do you have to sit there in the dark like some fucking ghost?” he murmured. 

“Darkness calms down your nerves,” Edi said bluntly.

“Not mine. Certainly not when you scare me like that.”

He took off his jacket and fumbled in a drawer for a while, until he realized that Edi had cleaned up the apartment, so nothing was where he expected it to be. He gave up.

When he came back from the bathroom, it seemed like Edi hasn’t moved an inch. For someone like Martín, who couldn’t sit still for five minutes, it was unimaginable.

“Leave the gun on the table. I will get rid of it in the morning,” he said.

Edi shook his head in disbelief. Martín looked at him.

“What?” he asked.

“How casual you sound,” Edi whispered.

Martín sighed and dropped down on the sofa next to him.

“Stop it already. They weren’t anyone you should feel sorry for.” 

“They were human beings! Like you and me!” Edi retorted.

Martín looked at him.

“And do you honestly think that these human beings would feel sorry for you and me if it was the other way round?”

There was silence. Martín took a few deep breaths to calm down.

“Listen to me. You wanted to get into this. Nobody forced you. The only thing you can do now is to play along. This is it. There are different rules in this world. What you did is bad in the outside world, but here it’s the right thing.”

“Killing someone is never a right thing.”

Martín sighed. He felt like jumping up, banging the apartment door behind him and having a shot of tequila… or two, or even three. But again, something stopped him.

“Try to look at it differently,” he said quietly. “You saved my life. I’m grateful for that. And if you need it and if I can, I will save yours. That’s how it should be.”

Edi nodded.

“Alright.” 

He didn’t sound too convinced. 

“Just try not to think about it, okay?” Martín said and patted his shoulder.

“It’s not that easy.”

Martín looked at him, then grabbed him without a warning and smashed their mouths together.

“Here,” he whispered. “Now think about this.”

He let go and closed the bedroom door behind him.  _How casual it sounded._


	6. Six

Diego entered the bistro and immediately frowned at the smell of freshly baked pastry. It was about nine in the morning, so the bistro was almost empty. Everyone was at work at that time. He had a day off, but he always knew that his days off rarely turned out to be real days off. There was always some phone call that got him back to work. 

He ordered coffee and sat at the table in the corner. He didn’t know why he chose the same table as last time. He sat there without even realizing it. 

He put sugar in his coffee and stirred it. Then he opened the newspaper he brought with him. He wasn’t that interested in anything written there, but he knew that sometimes he could find something useful there. People seemed to trust journalists more than cops. It had already happened to him that he read in the papers something the witness omitted to say directly to him.

And even if he didn’t find anything useful, reading the newspaper made him look a bit less like a desperate loner.

“You’re trying to poison yourself again?” a familiar voice behind him said.

He turned around. Edi was smiling at him. He looked tired and the smile on his lips was weary.

“May I sit?” he asked.

“Of course!” Diego blurted out and folded his newspaper.

“This is a strange hour to read newspaper at,” Edi noted. “I mean… people usually work at this hour.”

Diego nodded.

“I have a day off,” he said. “But you look tired. Night shift?” 

Edi smiled again, but now the smile was more bitter than tired.

“Something like that.” 

He shook his head like he wanted to get something out of it.

“What do you do?” he asked Diego then. “For work?”

Diego hesitated. When he told someone he was a cop, they usually either freaked out or became tense. Like he wanted to arrest everyone for whatever little sin they had ever done. In the better case, they thought he was probably a weird, boring, strict workaholic with no hobbies. Actually, wasn’t he? 

“Guess!” Diego smiled.

Edi looked at him and studied him closely. Diego liked it. More than he should.

“I’d say you don’t work manually. Like in a factory, anything like that.”

“Why do you think so?”

“Your hands. And you’re too smart for that.”

“Thank you,” Diego laughed. “But you’re right, I don’t work in a factory.” 

“I think you work in an office somewhere. Lots of paperwork and stuff. An accountant, something like that.” 

“Yeah,” Diego sighed. “Lots of paperwork. That’s right.”

He reached for the sugar shaker at the same time as Edi did. Their hands met halfway, fingertips brushing slightly. Diego drew his hand back immediately, while Edi’s hand remained resting on the table calmly.

For some reason, Diego felt an incredibly strong urge to slap himself.

“Um… I wanted to ask you…” he finally managed to say.

His cell phone rang. He cursed in his mind when he saw Tabárez’s number.

“Excuse me,” he said, took the phone and walked out of the bistro. 

He looked around him and answered the phone. 

“Yes?” 

“They found two guys shot dead in that old factory in Las Acacias,” his boss said. “Maybe you should look at that. If your fervor for this case is still there.”

“Sure. I’ll be there in a bit.”

“Okay. I’ll tell the guys to wait for you.”

Diego sighed and walked back to the table.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

Edi looked at him and smiled.

“Day off isn’t a day off?”

“It never is,” Diego said. “I’m sorry to have been such a terrible companion.”

“No, you are… perfect.”

Diego gulped and felt the blood rush to his face. 

“See you soon,” he said then, somehow managing to keep his voice calm. “When we both need another dose of this poison.”

Edi laughed quietly. Diego walked out of the bistro. When he looked through the glass wall, Edi was stirring his coffee, staring absently into space.

For the first time in his life, Diego wished he didn’t have to go to work.

 

***

 

Martín groaned when he heard the doorbell. It felt like he didn’t sleep at all, even though it was already quite late. He got up and dragged his body to the door.

“I thought you survived yesterday,” Nando said when he looked at him. “But actually you’re dead and turned into a zombie.” 

Martín gave him a death stare. Nando grinned, but then his expression went back to serious and he pulled Martín into a hug.

“I’m so glad you’re alive,” he whispered. 

Martín could feel the awkwardness creeping in, the same feeling he had in the car when Nando told him to be careful. Something unspoken hanging in the air.

“Yeah, me too,” he said, even though he knew it was probably a stupid thing to say.

Nando let go of him and sat on the sofa.

“What the hell happened? And what the hell happened with Lugano?” he asked. 

“You know what happened there. And I don’t know what you mean with Lugano.”

“Well, it’s like approaching a volcano this morning. He’s absolutely furious. Which is strange, because technically, nothing happened…” Nando stopped when Martín looked at him. “Sorry. I mean nothing that should bother Lugano that much. He didn’t lose anything, did he?”

Martín sighed.

“Lugano is furious for a different reason,” he said. “Someone had to tell Suárez I was going there. You know what that means?”

Nando looked at him with wide eyes.

“Does he suspect anyone?”

Martín shrugged.

“We didn’t really talk about it last night. I kind of… yelled at him, and he told me to go home and get some sleep.”

Nando laughed in disbelief.

“ _You_  yelled at  _him_?” 

Martín nodded.

“And he told you to go home? He didn’t like… shoot you, or roast you alive or anything?”

“Yeah.” 

“I told you,” Nando snorted. “You’re his pet and you know it.”

 

***

 

Diego looked around him. He knew this old factory well enough. There were places like this, famous for trouble happening around them.

Officer Pérez stood next to him. Diego was glad that they appointed him, because this required someone with a brain inside their head and feet firm on the ground, which was exactly what Pérez had.

“It’s all one big mess,” he said.

“Yeah, it is,” Diego nodded.

Diego gathered all sort of impressions he could get from the scene of crime. He understood nothing at first. Now it started to make more sense. 

“I’d like to know what the hell happened here. It looks like there was some kind of meeting that got out of hand,” Pérez said.

“You might be right. We have three different cars there. One is of course that one the two arrived in, but there are two other tire prints.”

“But then, how do you explain that two guys are holding guns and get shot from behind?” 

Diego looked at him. 

“How do you?”

“Well, the only thing I can imagine is that they walked in and… no, that doesn’t make sense.”

“What?” 

“If they had walked in, they would have covered each other’s back. They were up to something, that’s why they were holding guns, so I doubt they would just casually stroll down this hall and never looked around their shoulder.”

“Correct. They didn’t look around because they were focused on something in front of them. Or rather someone. Someone they were aiming at.”

“Then we have at least two other people here. One of them shot these two, and one was supposed to get shot and was damn lucky,” Pérez smirked.

Diego nodded.

“One side got their little win yesterday.”

“One side?” Pérez looked at him. “So you think this has again something to do with…”

“Yep.”

“You think we have a war on our hands here, right?”

“I’m pretty sure about it,” Diego said firmly. “And these two had the bad luck of being soldiers sent to the first line.”

 

***

 

Luis Suárez woke up already in a bad mood. Or was he  _still_  in a bad mood? All he knew was that even some anger sex hadn’t helped him, so it was bad. Really bad.

He headed to the bathroom to have a shower.

It wasn’t the fact that two of his people were dead that pissed him off so much. Of course, Lugano’s people shooting his didn’t make him happy. The thing that bothered him the most for professional reasons was the fact, that if they had police around before, after this it would be almost impossible to make any deals. And he was sure Falcao wasn’t going to risk like that. Which put him into almost the same situation he had put Lugano in.

And then, there was what bothered him for personal reasons.  _That little traitor._  Okay, technically he couldn’t call him a traitor, but it was just a habit he had picked up. He simply always thought of Cáceres as of “that little traitor”. 

_What lucky star was that bastard born on?_

Luis heard his cell phone ring somewhere in the apartment. He turned off the taps, wrapped a towel around his hips and went to pick it up. 

“Hello?”

For a second there was silence on the other end, like someone was surprised to hear his voice or unsure if it was the correct number. But when the person spoke, Luis knew that it wasn’t anyone who had the wrong number. 

“So are we even now, or can I consider myself leading one-nil?” Lugano’s voice asked.

 

***

 

When Edi came back to the apartment, he found Martín on the sofa watching TV. A quick look around the apartment was enough for him to notice the dirty dishes in the sink, cans on the table –  _the terrible ring marks it makes on the wood_  – and a pile of clothes on the armchair. He automatically headed to the armchair. 

“Hands off my mess!” Martín warned him. “It took me the whole morning to make it, if you clean it up in five minutes, you’ll really break my heart!”

“Okay, I’ll keep it for later,” Edi mumbled.

He could hear the TV being switched off behind him.

“Where were you?” Martín asked. 

“Went to have coffee.” 

“Fine. And now, why don’t you even look at me? I know I probably don’t look my best today, but…” 

Edi turned around and looked at Martín, holding a T-shirt and folding it absent-mindedly. 

“What happened yesterday…”

“You mean the kiss, right?” Martín asked.

Edi nodded and looked down. He noticed the T-shirt in his hands and put it away.

“Listen, you can take it like we were both a bit out of our minds and nothing happened, if you want to,” Martín said quietly.

“I’m not sure if I want to.”

Martín kept staring at him. It for sure wasn’t the answer he expected. Edi looked all like he was eager to forget about it all and pretend that it never happened.

“Okay,” he said then. “When you’re sure, let me know, then.” 

Edi nodded again and disappeared in the kitchen. When the sound of the water and clinking of the dishes got to Martín’s ears, he rolled his eyes and smiled. But for the first time he didn’t feel like he put his foot into anything.

 

***

 

Lugano was sitting on the terrace of his club. It was Saturday, the street was alive, the music loud and people already a bit drunk. He needed to be somewhere restless, where his mind in its current state would fit in.

When Martín and Edi appeared on the terrace, he got up and beckoned them. He noticed how Edi was trailing one step behind Martín, almost hiding behind his back, and had to laugh in his mind.

“Let’s go to the office,” he said.

They walked down the stairs and the corridor, where the music was less loud. Martín walked into the office like it was his own apartment, Edi took his time.

“This is respect, Cáceres, try to learn from him!” Lugano noted. 

He waited for Martín to come up with some juicy response, but when it didn’t come, he put his mind back to the business mode. 

“So, let’s get finished with this,” he said and opened a drawer in his table.

Edi blinked when a stack of money landed in front of him. 

“Your money.” 

Martín took his like it was some change a cashier gave him back. Edi kept staring at the money, unable to move. 

“What?” Lugano asked. “Do you want me to tie it with a ribbon and make a nice big bow?” 

“Eh… no.”

He reached out and pulled the money to him.

“Fine,” Lugano said, and it sounded like he was petting a kitten. “That’s it. You deserve it for what you did.”

“I just…” 

“I heard. And I’m glad that I was right about you.”

Edi lowered his eyes.

“Alright. Now there is our deal with the Peruvians,” Lugano said. 

Martín gave him a surprised look. 

“I thought that was postponed.”

Lugano raised his eyebrows.

“Why should it be?” 

“Well, with the police around and stuff…”

Lugano laughed. 

“I’m not Suárez nor his dear friend Falcao to chicken out when I see a cop,” he said. “And Vargas also isn’t. It’s true that he will stay safe, though. He’s very careful. So he will send someone here to set up the deal. If it goes through, he will call Vargas, who will prepare the shipment, and in a week or so we can get the stuff.” 

“Fine. What am I supposed to do?” Martín asked. 

“You  _two_ …” Lugano corrected him, his eyes flickering from Martín to Edi. “Are supposed to pick up that person Vargas sends and bring him here. That’s all. Easy, isn’t it?”

“From your smirk I can say it will be someone I won’t like,” Martín sighed.

“Don’t worry. He and I have different tastes, so you should be safe,” Lugano smirked. “One more thing. Don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Sure.”

“By anyone I mean not even Muslera.”

Martín looked at him like he was waiting for him to say he was joking. 

“You can’t be serious!” he breathed.

“Last time he was the only one who knew about it. The only one in this room when I told you. And I didn’t tell anyone else. Did you?”

Martín slowly shook his head.

“So unless our little hero here is the rat…” he said and smiled at Edi. “Which would be quite stupid to think, considering what he did, there is only one person who knew about it.” 

Lugano kept watching Martín for a while, like he was enjoying it all sinking in. Then he turned to Edi. 

“And now if you could leave us for a moment,” he said to him with a smile.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've never been to Montevideo (nor have I ever been to Uruguay), so if there is no old factory in Las Acacias, just pretend that there is, okay?


	7. Seven

Martín’s head was spinning. It felt like the whole bedroom was spinning around him. Like he was drunk. But he wasn’t. Not this time.

This time was easy. His mind wasn’t really there. He didn’t care about his body. It felt like he switched something off, like he cut some connecting wire. He wished he could cut it every time Lugano wanted to fuck him.

He didn’t like the scissors that cut the wire this time, though. That idea hurt as much. It couldn’t be true. It couldn’t. Nando wasn’t a rat. He knew it. He would never want him to get hurt. He even reminded him to be careful the night before. Why would he say it if he knew…

He heard the door come open and lifted his head. Edi was standing at the doorstep. 

“You sleep with him?” he asked quietly.

Martín blinked in surprise.

“Who?” 

“Lugano.” 

Martín raised his eyebrows. Edi could be naïve, way too curious, reckless, or whatever was just really bad for this job, but he had one big quality. He was perceptible as hell. More than Martín would like.

“Why do you think so?” 

It was more of a desperate attempt to escape the question. But Edi didn’t seem to mind explaining his speculations. 

“I’m not blind,” he said calmly. “You never want to speak about him, you always get annoyed when someone mentions him. And then the things he was saying today, and that he asked me to leave you two alone, even though he said everything important in front of me…”

Martín kept looking at him. Edi made a step towards him, but then stopped.

“I don’t really have a proof. It’s just intuition, that’s all.”

“Good intuition.”

Edi’s eyes widened. 

“So you sleep with him?” 

“When he wants to,” Martín said finally.

He was surprised with how calm it sounded. He indeed  _felt_  calm. He didn’t know why. He had always sworn to himself that nobody would find out. But it really felt better when somebody knew.

“When  _he_  wants to,” Edi repeated. “And you hate him. So you sleep with him even though you hate him, or you hate him because of that.” 

Martín looked at him.

“I don’t even know,” he said. 

“None of that is good.” 

"No, it‘s not good. It’s necessary.”

Edi gave him a confused look. 

“How is it necessary?”

“Have you never done it? When you needed something?” 

“You mean if I…” 

“Slept with someone because you needed something from them,” Martín nodded.

Edi looked at him, his eyes wide. 

“No.”

“Lucky boy,” Martín sighed.

Edi leaned over the wall and looked at the ground. 

“Actually… I’ve never slept with anyone. I mean… with a guy.”

“Oh.”

Martín wished he could think of something more intelligent to say, but the people he was used to deal with were different than this fragile, innocent creature.

“So that’s why… that kiss… scared you,” he said eventually.

Edi lifted his head and looked at him.

“I wasn’t scared,” he said firmly. “Just… confused, maybe.”

“And now you’re not?” 

“Maybe now I’m scared,” Edi said quietly. “But I want it.”

Martín didn’t know why, but suddenly he felt like never before. It wasn’t the usual anticipation or thrill. He was almost nervous, and then he realized that what he felt was responsibility. He wasn’t used to being the responsible one, the more experienced one, he was rarely the one to lead.

"Come here,“ he whispered and reached out for Edi.

 

***

 

Luis dialed Radamel Falcao’s number for the third time that evening. The line was busy twice, but this time it went through.

“Hello?” the familiar voice said.

“Hi, Radamel. It’s Luis.” 

A light chuckle came in response.

“You’re in deep shit, aren’t you?”

Luis frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I heard something about Lugano kicking your ass pretty hard last time. Please tell me nothing more happened since that fiasco in the old factory, I could seriously die of laughing way too much!” 

Luis took a deep breath. If it wasn’t more than four thousand kilometers between them, he would have already punched him in the face. 

“Stay calm, nothing else happened.”

“The police?” 

“They’ll give up, they always do. Actually, they are not even around.” 

There was silence. Then Radamel sighed deeply.

“Alright. I will send you the shipment. But if you fuck something up, I’m done with you.” 

“Of course. I just need this shipment and Lugano can finally fuck off. He’s just trying to piss me off with his provocations. Selling on my turf, and sending Cáceres of all people.”

Radamel laughed.

“Truth is that you two seriously need to grow up. But if I were you, I wouldn’t be so sure that Lugano is done here.”

Luis set the drink he had just poured himself back on the table. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, they say that Vargas is preparing a huge deal with someone. Nothing’s certain, but I can’t think of anyone who’s just lost their source and needs a new one, except of your old…”

“Lugano would never make a deal with Vargas!” Luis snorted, interrupting Radamel right in time before he could remind him of his old relations with his enemy. 

“Never say never,” Radamel laughed. “Don’t forget that it’s been quite some time since you knew him really well. People change.” 

Luis found himself nodding absent-mindedly. Radamel was obviously right. He knew nothing about Lugano now, except of all the public secrets. But every hooker or bartender knew them. 

“I still don’t get how you know all that when you’re in Colombia while it all happens under my nose and I know nothing,” Luis sighed.

Radamel laughed heartily.

“Watch and learn, boy. Watch and learn.”

 

***

 

Edi’s mind was all over the place, like every time Martín’s lips landed somewhere on his body, the kiss triggered another thought. For some reason, his brain has decided to come up only with reasons for why he  _shouldn’t_  do it. He wasn’t sure if he was in love with Martín. Hell, how could he be sure when he knew him just for a week or so? He knew absolutely nothing about him, and what he actually  _did_  know weren’t things that would make him trust someone.

But there was something he felt for him, and something that made him trust Martín, there was some kind of bond between them, even though he couldn’t tell what it was.

Martín’s hand slid down his chest almost lazily, then his fingers left Edi’s skin and he smirked at him before touching him again, _somewhere completely else_. Edi’s body arched immediately and he lifted his hands to push Martín away, but stopped halfway. Martín pulled him closer and held him tighter, but there was no more fighting from Edi. He was lying in his arms like a rag doll. 

“That’s it,” Martín whispered. “Just relax. Relax.”

Edi closed his eyes and nodded. His lips were trembling like he was cold. Martín’s fingers lightly brushed his cheek.

“I will stop when you tell me to. Fine?” 

He knew he would never tell him to stop. If he stopped halfway, maybe he would never find the courage again. And so he just held onto Martín, biting on his shoulder to prevent himself from screaming or making any sound that would make Martín stop. To his surprise, Martín’s reaction was something between a surprised gasp and an amused chuckle.

“Don’t have to be quiet, you know?” Martín whispered, bringing their faces close.

Instead of answering him, Edi reached up and pulled on the rubber band that was holding Martín’s already quite messy bun in place. Martín’s hair covered their faces like a curtain.

“A bit cheeky, aren’t you?” Martín chuckled.

Edi took a breath, but the next movement of Martín’s hand took the words from him and shot him up to the stars.

He threw his head back and for the first time in eternity, his brain was left voiceless.

 

***

 

Lugano watched two men walking on the other side of the street. They were familiar, and if someone was familiar, it immediately made him suspicious.

Then he remembered them. He laughed in his mind and gestured towards Fucile, who set his drink on the table and came to his boss immediately.

“Do you know the two guys over there?” Lugano asked.

“Um, yeah, why?” Fucile said and yelped when Lugano grabbed his neck. 

“When I ask you if you know someone, you give me their name or say you don’t know them, but you never fucking ask  _why_!” 

Fucile made his best effort to nod and not let himself be strangled to death. Lugano let go of him and nodded back to the men waiting in front of the opposite club. 

“So who are they?” 

“Gargano and Lodeiro, well, they’re just two of those guys who do small jobs and are generally annoying…” 

“Go there and tell them I want to talk to them.”

Fucile gave him a surprised look, but then remembered that it was quite likely that he wouldn’t survive another “why”, so he just ran down the stairs.

Lugano sat on his favorite place on the terrace and grinned. He was in a wicked mood.

 

***

 

Martín was stroking Edi’s hair and staring on the ceiling. The thoughts he had before were trying to find their way back into his head, but luckily he was too tired to think.

Edi brushed his fingers over the bite mark on Martín’s shoulder. 

“Sorry about that,” he said quietly. 

“Don’t be,” Martín smiled. “You little vampire.”

Edi laughed shortly. Then his eyes darkened and he looked at Martín seriously.

“Why do you keep doing it?” he asked. 

“What?”

“Working for Lugano.”

Martín sighed. 

“Do we have to talk about him now?” 

“We’re not really talking about him. We’re talking about you.” 

Martín took a breath.

“Why do I keep working for him? Because I have no other choice.” 

“There are always other choices.” 

Martín smiled bitterly and shook his head.

“Not in my case. I can’t leave. I can’t betray Lugano.” 

“Why?” 

Martín tilted his head slightly to look Edi in the eyes.

“Because he saved my life.”

 

***

 

Lugano was sitting in his office, his arms folded. Walter Gargano and Nicolás Lodeiro were squirming in their seats in front of him. He looked at their expensive, yet tawdry clothes. He has never seen anyone with such a bad taste. 

“So you think that talking people into stealing cars is fun?” he asked them finally.

They exchanged terrified looks. 

“Is talking people into stealing  _my_  car funny?” Lugano repeated. 

“We thought he wouldn’t do it,” Walter blurted out and glanced over at Nico. 

“Yeah…” Nico nodded and gulped. “I mean, come on, he looked like he couldn’t count to five!” 

“Too bad for you!” Lugano said. “He’s class. You’re not.”

Walter blinked in surprise. Nico looked at the ground like he was hoping that he could somehow fall through it, away from there.

“Or are you two class as well?” Lugano asked. “Maybe I underestimated you. Maybe you just never got a chance to prove yourself?” 

They looked at him like he was crazy. He got up and threw an envelope on the table. 

“I need one of you to take this little message to an old friend of mine,” he said and showed them a note. “This is for now, I will give you twice as much once you deliver it. So, any of you wants the job? Or are you really just annoying losers who can do nothing but get other people into trouble?”

Nico turned his gaze to the floor again, which was probably supposed to mean that he was okay with being a loser for now. Walter hesitated for a while and then took the envelope and reached for the money.

“Who is that friend?” he asked. “Where will I find him?”

Lugano smiled.

“You’ll have no problems finding him,” he said softly. “His name is Luis Suárez.”

 

***

 

“He saved your life?” Edi repeated, looking at Martín closely. “How?” 

Martín closed his eyes like he wanted to remember something. He didn’t have to. He remembered it, he remembered it more clearly than he would want to. The abandoned construction site, the rain on his face, the mud on his clothes and the copper taste of blood in his mouth. The moment of giving up hope. And then he was there. An angel sent from heaven to that forgotten place, an angel who wouldn’t deserve a halo, but in that moment Martín didn‘t really care. He couldn’t see what was happening around him, couldn’t process the words, even the sound of the shots was strangely distant, like he had television on low volume. When Lugano reached down for him, he half expected him to fire a bullet in his head as well. "Remember this,“ he said so quietly that Martín almost couldn‘t hear him over the sound of the pouring rain. "Remember this forever.“ Martín nodded and looked into those hazel eyes. They were the last thing he saw before everything went blurry. He didn‘t remember much from the following days. Only the constant pain, the faint smell of fresh gauze bandages and the face of a young woman. She didn‘t have a name, he couldn‘t remember if she ever spoke to him, but she was constantly there, cleaning his wounds, placing a wet cloth on his forehead and delivering the pleasure of morphine drowse when the pain became insufferable. He didn‘t know who she was and once he got better, she never returned. He didn‘t even know if she was real. But probably she was. She was someone Lugano hired. Some nurse, a fallen angel who got in trouble for stealing medicaments at some hospital, and once her source had dried, she got pulled into this circle of favors and rewards. That was how it worked. Once he didn‘t need her anymore, she got her reward, probably enough drug for a month or so, and disappeared.

“Well, I told you that I worked for Suárez,” Martín said quietly. “He wanted to get rid of me.” 

“Why?” 

“Because I knew too much. I was for him what I am now for Lugano. I saw into things too much for his liking. Suárez can get paranoid sometimes.”

“And why did Lugano save you?” 

“For the same reason,” Martín smiled bitterly. “I knew a lot about Suárez. He needed someone like that. I was an easy prey. He didn’t have to lure me away. Whatever he asks for now, I can’t say no.”

Only now he noticed that Edi had wrapped his arms around him and snuggled up against him. Somehow it calmed him down.

“Have they always hated each other?” Edi asked then. “Lugano and Suárez?” 

Martín laughed shortly. 

“No.”

Edi looked up at him.

“Suárez was Lugano’s apprentice,” Martín explained. “Just like you are mine.”


	8. Eight

Martín stopped the car and pulled out a cigarette. Charo waved at him, took a careful look around, opened the door and hopped in the car. Her hair was now black, with a touch of pink here and there. She smelled of the same strong perfume as last time and Martín rolled the window down immediately to let some fresh air in. Without asking, she snatched a cigarette from his packet and smirked when he lit it with a resigned sigh.

“So? The cop again?” Martín asked when they stopped at their usual place near the old gas station.

Charo grinned.

“Nope, what would he be doing here?”

“So what the hell is so important?”

There was a winning smile on Charo’s face.  _It could only mean trouble_ , Martín thought.

“Well, know that guy who works for Suárez?” she asked. “The blondish, squashy-looking one?”

Martín frowned. Of course he knew Suárez’s right hand. His  _new_  right hand. 

“Coates,” he said.

“Yeah. Well, I saw him talking to someone, and I thought it might interest you.”

Martín’s stomach clenched. Suddenly he realized that he wasn’t so sure about Nando not being the rat as he had thought. He wasn’t sure that he really wanted to hear it.

“To who?” he asked in a small voice. 

Charo popped another bubble before spitting the gum out of the window and raising her eyebrows.

“How much will you give me for this?”

Martín sighed and handed her a note.

“You’re cheap,” she said.

He added another one.

“Do you realize that this is not my main work? Hey, I spend my  _free_  time spying for you!”

Martín gave her another two notes. She took them eagerly and stuffed them in her little handbag.

“Well, he was talking to someone you know,” she said. “And I think that this  _someone_  definitely shouldn’t be talking to Suárez’s people.”

“I could say that, dammit, who was it?” Martín groaned. “And don’t even dare to say you don’t know his name, after I gave you the money!”

“Hey, calm down, sweetie!” Charo cooed. “Of course I know his name, he obviously needed more fun than that chat with Coates could be, and I was happy to help. So, do you know someone called Jorge?”

It took a second until it clicked in Martín’s brain.

“Fucile!” he said. 

“Maybe. Whatever, they were talking like best buddies or what, and Coates gave him something. I don’t know what it was... could be money, but I’m not sure.” 

Martín couldn’t choose between his feelings the moment it dawned on him. He felt incredibly angry. So Fucile was the reason why he – and Edi – could be dead. He didn’t know what his intentions were, but he supposed it was the same as always – he got the impression that by collaborating with Suárez, he would get higher. Loyalty was nothing for these little rats. They would work for anyone who’d give them more money.

Then happiness took over. If it was Fucile talking to Coates, then Nando had nothing to do with what happened. Of course, he couldn’t be sure and he needed to make sure he was right, but it was already much better than the terrible feeling he had after Lugano told him that he suspected Nando.

He hugged Charo and kissed her. She blinked in surprise.

“Well...” she said. “That wasn’t bad, considering you’re not into girls...” 

“Shut up!” Martín laughed. “Oh, Charo, you’re my hero, you know?”

She grinned and reached into her handbag.

“Want a gum?”

 

***

 

Diego was frowning at the computer screen from behind his cup of coffee. His third or fourth cup of coffee.

“Still not caffeinated enough?” his boss laughed, looking at the screen briefly.

“I’m afraid that if this drug war doesn’t end soon, I will overdose myself, on caffeine.” 

“Nothing new?” Tabárez asked. “Have they sent you the ballistics results from last night already?”

“Yeah,” Diego said. “Completely different from that dealer and the two guys in the old factory. Those were the same calibre, same batch probably. Usual for one gang, they probably got more of them at once. Well, but this guy last night...” 

“Doesn’t make sense, right?” Tabárez sighed.

“It would,” Diego replied. “Different calibre, I’d say the other gang had their say finally. But nothing suggests that the guy belonged to one of the gangs.”

“So where do you go from here?”

“I will hang around the two nests of crime for some time.”

“Wait!” Tabárez frowned. “Are you telling me that you want to go to Suárez’s club?”

Diego nodded.

“And Lugano’s.” 

“Have you gone crazy?” 

Diego switched off the computer and turned to his boss. 

“Look, where else do I find people who know something about these two? I can spend another month interrogating the hookers and old people in the bad quarters, but what will it be good for? They never see anything, even if it happens right under their nose. So I have to go a little bit closer!” 

Tabárez sighed and gave him a worried look. 

“Alright. But be careful. And for God’s sake, act a little bit less like a cop.”

“That will be tough!” Diego grinned.

“I know,” Tabárez chuckled. “Even when you go to have coffee, the barista hides his tips so that you don’t accuse him of stealing them from the register!” 

“It’s not that bad!” Diego objected.

Tabárez narrowed his eyes and with a smirk disappeared in his office. Diego took his jacket and headed out of the building.

On his way home he stopped in front of the bistro, lurking in through the window. It was half-empty as always, and the person he was looking for wasn’t there. He headed home, ready to get some sleep before the task he gave himself.

 

***

 

Nando gave Martín a surprised look when his friend –  _and ex-partner_ , he thought bitterly – stormed into his apartment.

“What’s up?” he asked.

“Nando, when Lugano told me about that deal in the old factory, did you tell anyone?”

“What? Who do you think...” 

“Listen!” Martín said through gritted teeth. “This is not the right time to play stupid or offended. Lugano thinks that  _you_  are the rat! You know what he will do to you if you don’t prove him wrong!”

Nando gasped and sat on the sofa.

“But I...” he blurted out. “Why does he think it’s me?” 

“Because there were only four people who knew about it. Lugano, me, Edi and you. So again, did you tell anyone?” 

“I don’t think I...” 

“Otherwise. Did you tell Fucile?”

Nando’s eyes went wide. Martín grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him.

“Did you tell Fucile where I was going?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” Nando breathed. “I... I did, I mean he was so annoying and he kept asking me why we had to work together, and where you were and such stupid questions, I just wanted to get rid of him, so I told him that you had to do some other work for Lugano... and he kept asking what kind of work and...”

Nando covered his face with his hands.

“Damn, I’m so sorry, Martín!” he whispered. “It would have been my fault if... Oh, God!” 

To his surprise Martín only breathed a sigh of relief and sat next to him.

“It’s fine,” he said and put his arm around Nando’s shoulders. “You didn’t know he was a rat. You didn’t mean anything bad.”

Nando nodded and looked at Martín.

“What will happen now?” 

“Well, I have to let Lugano know it isn’t you.”

“And Fucile?”

Martín frowned.

“I hope he burns in hell. I will ask Lugano to think of a pretty ugly death for him. Lugano sure is good at that.” 

Nando couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Martín headed to the door, then he turned around briskly.

“Did he know who went with me?”

“What?” Nando asked. 

“Did you tell Fucile about Edi? Did you tell him he was going with me?”

Nando shook his head. 

“No. Fucile doesn’t even know him. Only you, Lugano and I know him so far.”

Martín nodded thoughtfully.

“Why?” Nando asked. 

“Because for sure Suárez wants to know who shot two of his people, and for sure he wouldn’t thank that person, don’t you think?” 

“You care about him,” Nando noted when Martín was almost out of the door.

“Isn’t that what you told me I should do?” Martín grinned.

Nando nodded and smiled, ignoring the little needles of jealousy stabbing him inside.

 

***

 

Lugano looked at Martín and narrowed his eyes.

“Fucile?” he asked.

Martín nodded.

“Nando told him about it. And somebody told me he talked to Coates and that Coates gave him something.” 

“Well, we’ll see what he has to say about it. Still, tell Muslera to keep his mouth shut next time.”

Martín nodded. Then he looked at Lugano and bit his lip.

“What about Suárez? He will want to know who shot his people and...” 

“Don’t worry about it!” Lugano smiled. “He got him already. I sent him his head on a silver plate last night.”

Martín blinked in surprise. 

“What?” 

“I sent him a little present from an old friend.”

Lugano found the confused looks Martín was giving him very amusing.

“Well, it’s simple, I sent a guy to deliver him a message. A message that read that I was sure he would never find the guy himself, so I was sending him to make it easier. Just a little teasing, really.”

“Who was that guy?” Martín asked. 

“I have no idea, just a guy nobody will really miss.”

Lugano looked at Martín and grinned.

“The most important thing is that our little hero is safe for now, right?” 

Martín nodded slowly. For once he didn’t seem to mind Lugano’s twisted sense of humor. 

“Well, I will take care of Fucile, you two take care of our Peruvian friend tomorrow night. Tell your apprentice to keep his gun out of the way this time. We don’t want a war with Vargas on our hands as well,” Lugano said.

“Alright,” Martín said and got up. “When you deal with Fucile, I hope you will be... you.” 

Lugano laughed shortly and winked at him.

“You bet.”

 

***

 

Martín blinked in surprise when he walked into his apartment and was greeted by Edi’s kiss. He wasn’t used to such displays of affection, but it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. 

“You look happy,” Edi observed.

“Yeah, well... I found out that Nando wasn’t the rat after all.” 

He didn’t tell him about the other thing Lugano did. He was sure that Edi would find some reason to feel guilty about it.

“But you never really believed it, did you?” Edi raised his eyebrows.

“For a moment I had some doubts,” Martín admitted.

“He’s your friend.”

“I know. But I learned not to trust anyone.” 

Edi ran his fingers through Martín’s hair and pulled him closer.

“What about me?” he asked quietly. “Do you trust me?”

Martín smiled. 

“Not so blindly as you trust me, but I do trust you.”

Edi pulled him down on the sofa and wrapped his arms around him. Martín leaned on his shoulder and closed his eyes, breathing the fresh smell of shampoo from Edi’s hair.

“Tomorrow night we have to go to work again,” he said then.

“Compared to the last time, how dangerous is it?” Edi asked. 

“Much less. This is a deal just between Lugano and Vargas, or well, Lugano and this guy who works for Vargas. We don’t have anything to say there,” Martín said and looked at Edi. “This time do what I tell you, alright?”

Edi smiled.

“I’ll try.”

 

***

 

Lugano dialed a number and waited until the other person picked up the phone.

“Yeah?” an irritated voice in the phone said. 

“Coates?” Lugano asked casually.

“Yeah, what the hell do you want, idiot, we sorted everything out, I’m not your mother to call me for a chatter!”

Lugano raised his eyebrows and chuckled. 

“Sorry. Won’t bother you again!” he said and hung up.

He threw the phone on the table and looked at Fucile.

“Come on, reassure me once again that you never spoke to Coates,” he said.


	9. Nine

Luis was in a bad mood. He hasn’t heard from Falcao since their last phone call, he lost an important customer and on top of everything, he knew about the deal between Lugano and Vargas, but couldn’t get any details that could help him possibly foil it.

He scanned the club and gestured to Coates. It would be useless to call at him, he wouldn’t hear a thing over the sound of loud –  _and annoying_  - music.

“Yes?” Coates asked when he reached Luis on the stairs above the dance floor.

“Have you called that idiot who gave you the info about Lugano’s guys last time?”

“Yeah. Can’t reach him since yesterday,” Coates replied. “Should I try again?”

“Of course. I want to know about everything Lugano does. If this one doesn’t work out, find me another snitch. Now, I hope you and Eguren got some more customers since you lost one.” 

“We didn’t…” Coates objected, but then decided against defending himself and his friend. After all, if Suárez was saying that it was their fault, it was their fault even though that guy simply got arrested for selling drugs on the street. 

“Good. And last…” Luis said and glanced over to the bar. “Can you tell me what a cop is doing in my club?”

 

***

 

Martín got out of the car and looked around carefully. The place was dark and quiet. Exactly like the ones that were giving him shivers. But of course they couldn’t have their meeting point on the main square. All the guys preferred to go in and out of the country unnoticed. The less people knew about their presence, the better.

Martín nodded to Edi, who got out of the car and stood next to Martín.

“Are we on time?” Edi asked nervously.

“We still have a few minutes, don’t worry, you little perfectionist!” Martín smiled.

After a few cigarettes, when a lot of Martín’s patience was already used up, they heard the sound of car engine. When the car emerged from the darkness, it was clear that this person wasn’t of those who preferred their anonymity. Only a blind person wouldn’t notice a car like that. It was a grey metallic Lamborghini. Upon seeing it, Edi’s jaw fell down and Martín rolled his eyes as if someone just entered the grocery store in a pink fur coat. 

When the driver got out of the car, Martín threw the last cigarette on the ground and stepped on it. 

“You’re late,” he said instead of a greeting.

“I can afford it,” the other man said in a calm voice. “You need me more than I need you, so better stop bossing around, okay?”

Edi just blinked. It was the first time he saw someone shut Martín up. Even Lugano couldn’t do it that well. 

The man took a step towards them and it took all of Edi’s courage not to step back or flinch. Something about this guy was simply screaming “trouble” inside Edi’s brain. But something about him was fascinating as well. He was the picture of everything Edi ever wanted to be or have – well, except of being arrogant. But this car, the expensive clothes, jewelry, this self-confidence, all this was exactly the reason why he jumped into Lugano’s car that night. 

Ostentatiously ignoring Martín, the man stretched out his arm and looked at Edi.

“Paolo,” he introduced himself.

“Edi,” Edi replied and somehow managed to shake his hand firmly. 

Martín didn’t even look eager to shake Paolo’s hand and their introduction was brief. Martín nodded to their car.

“Let’s go, shall we?” he said. “I guess our car isn’t worth sitting in for you, so I suppose you’ll follow us?”

“You bet,” Paolo laughed. “I hope it’s able to go at a decent speed, otherwise my car could fall asleep.”

Martín got into the car. When Edi sat next to him and closed the door, Martín sighed deeply.

“Fucking idiot!” he groaned.

 

***

 

Nando was sitting in Lugano’s office. Even though he knew that Martín already told Lugano everything about Fucile, he was still a bit nervous. After all, it was still him who told Fucile. It was enough of a reason to get at least a strong warning. 

“So, I think you will be happy that you won’t have to work with Fucile anymore,” Lugano said.

“Listen, I really didn’t mean to…” Nando started.

“Shut up before you give me headache!” Lugano snapped. “I have an important meeting tonight, I don’t have time for listening to your excuses. The next fucking time, what is said in this office stays in this office! No need to tell your grandmother, cousin and random people on the street!”

Nando lowered his eyes. 

“I know you’re angry,” he said quietly. “I’m angry with myself too.”

“It’s not about me being angry!” Lugano said. “It’s about you being responsible for other people. If I was Cáceres, I would cut you into one million little pieces, and I’m surprised he hasn’t done it already.”

Nando felt like his ears were bleeding, he wanted to curl up into a little ball and die somewhere in a corner. Lugano got up from his chair.

“You’ll work with Godín now,” he said. “Don’t start off with telling him anything that’s on your mind. If you need to talk about something, try discussing the prices of  _choripán_  or whatever will not kill other people, alright?”

“I’ll try,” Nando mumbled.

“No, you won’t try, you’ll do it!” Lugano said. “Unless you want to swim in the Montevideo Bay with Fucile.”

Nando opened his mouth and looked at Lugano. Lugano folded his arms and smirked.

“Problem?”

Nando shook his head and backed up to the door, opened it and slipped out of the room.

Once he reached the bar, he poured himself a glass of whisky, completely ignoring the bartender, and downed it in two gulps.

_This was a hell of a warning._

 

***  

 

Diego was sitting at the bar, trying to look as casual as he could, which wasn’t much. He didn’t know what he was even looking for. Whatever important was happening here, it wasn’t happening where he was sitting.

So far he only witnessed a couple fighting, which ended with the girl pouring her glass of Cuba Libre on the guy’s head, a nerdy-looking guy trying to dance, which caused a collective laughter, and a few girls rushing to the restrooms either to throw up or to snort a line, which was all really disgusting, but he couldn’t arrest any of these people even if he wanted to.

He glanced over to the table in the far corner of the club. He was sure the important talks, if they were going on, were going on there. He recognized Eguren, because he had already had some talking to do with him, but he would bet he wasn’t the most important person at the table. Still, Suárez, if he was even there, was hidden somewhere. Diego half expected him to emerge from somewhere when the clock strikes midnight, with sparkles all around, asking the guests: “Are you having fun, people?”

Of course that was nonsense. Suárez couldn’t give a damn about the guests as long as they weren’t his  _personal_  guests.

A woman at the table looked at him. She was somehow familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he knew her from. She was sipping on her drink, Eguren’s arm wrapped around her waist while another guy, much younger, was eyeing her hungrily from the other side of the table.

Diego looked away and ordered another glass. He hoped that the weird look the bartender gave him had nothing to do with him personally, just with his choice of drink. Alright, so Cosmopolitan wasn’t a very  _manly_  thing to order, but he had to stay at least a bit sober.

When his eyes flickered back to the table in the corner, the woman was still looking at him. She set her glass on the table, said something to Eguren and giggled. Then she got up and headed to the restrooms. She beckoned him on the way.

Diego blinked, but then followed her. The corridor leading to the restrooms was narrow, with a few couples making out here and there in the darkness. The woman was waiting for him at the end of the corridor.

“You better get out of here,” she said. 

“Why?” Diego asked. 

“You’re already deep in some shit, Detective,” she grinned and that was when Diego recognized her, even though she had a different hairstyle and her clothes were somehow more decent this time.

“Am I?”

Charo laughed. 

“You could walk in with ‘I’m a cop’ written on your forehead, it would be the same. The losers out there might look at my boobs and not you, but Suárez isn’t stupid. And even though you don’t see him, he sees you. He sees everything everyone does in here.”

“You know him?” Diego asked. 

“I’m not here to give you info, idiot, I’m just doing the good deed of telling you to fuck the hell off before you disappear like that!” Charo said and snapped her fingers.

She turned around and opened the door to the restrooms. 

“Better use the back door right there!” she said before she closed the door behind her. 

Diego shook his head in disbelief and headed to the back door.

 

***

 

Martín stopped the car and cursed in his mind, because the whole street was now staring at them, because of the idiot who had to ride  _a fucking Lamborghini_. He was quite sure Lugano wouldn’t be happy about it and of course it was Martín who was going to take the blame for it, but what the hell could he do?

In the narrow corridor that led to Lugano’s office, he stopped and blocked Paolo’s way. 

“Give me your gun!” he ordered him.

Paolo stepped back and smirked.

“You call this ‘good manners’ here?”

“I call this ‘safety measures’.”

“I came to make business, not to kill anyone,” Paolo snorted.

“Still, Lugano doesn’t want any guns in his office. So give it to me.”

Paolo gave him a cheeky smile and held his hands up.

“Find it yourself.”

Martín gritted his teeth, fighting the urge to slap him. Paolo looked at Edi.

“Does he always have such terrible excuses when he wants to touch someone?” he asked. 

Edi tried hard not to blush. There was something in Paolo’s eyes that made him shiver, but not in a pleasant way. There was some strange hunger, partly hidden behind a veil of arrogance and self-assurance. 

“Or you want to do it?” Paolo asked with a smirk, looking Edi right in the eyes. “I won’t mind.”

Martín pushed him against the wall and found the gun in his jacket. He casually checked the rest of his clothes and then nodded to the door. 

When they walked in, the atmosphere became even more tense. It felt like being in a room with two time bombs. Paolo shook Lugano’s hand casually, which suggested that the two knew each other, but he did not do it in a very friendly way. 

“You never had manners yourself, so it doesn’t surprise me that your people don’t have them either… at least some of them.”

He shot a look at Martín. 

“Sorry about that,” Lugano said in a voice which implied that he wasn’t sorry at all. “It was my order to take your gun.”

“I figured that out. Now I would be against myself if I killed you, wouldn’t I?” 

“One can never be careful enough, you know.” 

Paolo smiled and leaned back in his chair. Martín would swear he was the first person he’s ever seen to relax in front of Lugano.

The emotions settled during the time they were discussing the conditions of the deal. But when Paolo got up again, his usual arrogance came back. 

“You know, everything depends on whether I give Vargas a call that this is a good deal to make, or not” he said. “And so far I’ve made better deals.”

Lugano looked at him skeptically, but said nothing, convinced that there was something more to be said. 

“Overall, I don’t get a good impression of your people in general,” Paolo continued and shot another hateful look at Martín.

Martín noticed that Lugano narrowed his eyes and he was pretty sure that he was going to pay for Paolo’s whimsy later.

“So, I’m not sure at all if I find your people worth this call,” Paolo said. 

He took a few steps to the door where Martín and Edi were standing.

“Unless someone wants to prove me wrong,” he smiled then, reached out and touched Edi’s face. 

Martín looked at Lugano like he was asking if he was really going to let Paolo do this, but Lugano looked nothing like he wanted to intervene. Like he didn’t give a damn about what was going on in his office.

Paolo’s eyes flickered to Martín and then back to Edi, as he leaned closer to him, tilting his head up in a provocative way. 

“What do you say, pretty thing?” he whispered.


	10. Ten

“Maybe he’s just testing the water. I got this impression of him. He’s testing how far he can go, not just with you and me, but even with Lugano.” 

Martín set the empty glass on the table and glanced over to the bar where Paolo was chatting with the bartender like the club belonged to him.

“But it could help the cause or not?” Edi asked. 

Martín sighed.

“I told you already. You don’t have to do it.”

“But if this doesn’t go well, Lugano will be angry with you. He already is.”

“You don’t have to do it because of me! I don’t want you to, okay?” Martín said and quickly looked around to see how many people spilled their drinks because of his yelling.

“It’s strange that you’re saying that,” Edi said calmly. “Because you do it all the time.”

“I do what?” 

“Lugano and you. You do it for Nando, or at least you did, and now you probably do it for me. It’s so obvious that I don’t get how nobody’s seeing it.” 

Martín looked at him in surprise, trying to think about something to say, but the words just weren’t coming to him.

“That’s different,” he said quietly.

“In what is it different?” 

Martín sighed and dug his fingers in his hair.

“Jesus, look at yourself!” he said. “I fucking scared you with one kiss and you’re now telling me you want to go with this asshole?”

“That was before.”

Martín shook his head and got up. 

“Whatever you do, I don’t want to see it, I don’t want to be a part of it and you definitely  _don’t_  have my blessing. And now I’m leaving.”

He ran down the stairs and got in his car. For a second, an idea of crashing into Paolo’s precious Lamborghini flashed through his mind. Then he decided against it, because he was already screwed enough because of that prick. All he wanted to do now was to sleep and pretend that nothing ever happened.

 

***

 

Diego switched on the little light above his desk. The office was quiet and empty, as nobody in his department was working at this hour. He should have been in bed as well, but he knew that he wouldn’t fall asleep anyways.

This was getting crazy. Really crazy.

Over the past few weeks, there was a dead drug dealer, two dead guys in an old factory, a dead guy about who nobody really knew where he belonged, and finally this guy they found in the Montevideo Bay.  _With this speed, the population of Montevideo will be reduced to half in a year_ , Diego thought.

On top of everything, a whore warns him to get out of Suárez’s club. The whore he talked to after that first murder.  _If she’s not involved in all this, then I’m a Chinese vase_. 

And then, there was a reason why he liked being so busy. Thinking about all these cases took up enough space in his brain to stop thinking about his own confused feelings. Sure, he was still lurking in that bistro from time to time. Sure, he had a few rather _disturbing_  dreams after which he had to take a cold shower. But apart from that, he managed not to think about that one person, and it was a good thing, because somehow, he felt like that person was somehow out of his league, and even if he wasn’t, Diego was pretty sure he wouldn’t dare to ask him out no matter what. He knew better than to make an idiot out of himself.

He switched on the computer and opened the newest file. Here he felt at least a little bit like he knew what he was doing.

 

***

 

Paolo walked out of the club and stopped when he saw Edi leaning over his car. He smiled and raised his perfect eyebrows.

“Did Lugano send you or did you come on your own will?” he asked in an amused voice.

“Would it change anything?” Edi shrugged.

Paolo reached out and wrapped one of Edi’s curls around his finger. Edi blinked rapidly when he pulled on it to bring him closer, but didn’t back away.

“I don’t know,” Paolo whispered. “Would it?”

“Nobody sent me. I came because I wanted to.”

Paolo kissed him. It tasted like cigarettes and Edi didn’t like it from the start, but he didn’t even expect to like it.

“How many shots did you take for courage?” Paolo asked with a wicked smile.

“Two. But they didn’t help much.”

Paolo laughed.

“Your honesty is astonishing,” he said and wrapped his arm around Edi’s waist. “But I’m not a monster. You don’t have to be scared of me.”

Edi said nothing, because if he said he wasn’t scared, he would be lying. And if he said he was, he would probably give Paolo just what he wanted. This was business, and he meant to come out of it with some dignity.

 

***

 

Diego switched off the lamp and got up. He was satisfied with himself. He managed to set up a plan for himself, and while he almost certainly couldn’t enter Suárez’s club again, he was pretty sure that the answers were waiting for him at Lugano’s. Luckily for him, Lugano’s place wasn’t a disco where the average age of guests was eighteen. He had enough of being stared at like he was an exotic animal in the zoo.

He opted for the longer walk home, through the street where Lugano’s bar was. He wasn’t going to enter it, but one never knew when some inspiration could hit him. 

Just as he was about to turn to that street, he froze and grabbed a lamp post for support, because his body couldn’t stop as fast as his brain told him to. It was dark outside, but the lamps, neons and lights from the clubs made it easy to see. And Diego was quite sure he’d recognize Edi with much less light. 

He knew it was him, even though he was wearing much more decent clothes than last time and seemed to somehow fit in here way more than Diego would expect him to. But it wasn’t the reason why he stopped and was now hiding behind the corner like a silly kid. It was the man walking next to Edi, with his arm possessively wrapped around Edi’s waist, with his self-confident moves and  _so annoying_  laughter. 

Diego felt a wave of jealousy hitting him. It took him a while to realize it, because it’s been a long time since he last felt that way, but he was sure it was that. The weird feeling in his stomach, almost like nervousness, a bit like he used to feel at school before a test, but this was sharper, it hurt and it was annoying like a paper cut.

He wanted to know who that guy was, and at the same time he didn’t even want to know anything about him. He wanted to pretend that it didn’t happen. But he couldn’t get it out of his mind just like that. Who was that guy? What was his arm doing around Edi’s waist? 

_Who was that? Someone more courageous than you, probably._

Jealousy slowly melted into anger. It wasn’t even anyone that would be Edi’s type.

_Idiot. How do you even know what his type is?_

He looked at them for the last time. It was an act of masochism more than anything else. It surprised him that the pain was almost physical.

Then he turned around and ran away like a scared kid.

 

***

 

“He had two Cosmopolitans and then disappeared.”

Sebastián Eguren was sweating in his chair in Luis Suárez’s office. He swore to himself that he would kick Coates in his ass for disappearing to an “important” meeting without even telling him. Now Suárez supposed  _he_  was watching the people in the club, while he was watching… well, something completely else instead. 

“Are you trying to tell me that he disappeared because of the Cosmopolitans or what? Did our bartender discover some magic potion that makes cops disappear?”

“No. I don’t know where he went after that.”

“You don’t know?” Luis asked in a dangerous tone. “Really? Where were you looking?” 

“Eh… well, I couldn’t watch him the whole time!” Eguren said nervously.

“No, you couldn’t, and I’ll tell you why you couldn’t! Because you were fucking looking into that whore’s cleavage! Like you haven’t seen tits in your whole fucking life!”

Eguren muttered something and Luis looked at him dangerously. 

“What were you saying?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing sounds different. So?”

“Well, I said ‘not tits like that’.”

Luis took a deep breath.

“Okay. So listen. I’m not paying you for staring at tits. I don’t even know what the hell I’m paying you for. But I’m telling you, if this cop comes here once more, or if this whore comes here once more, I will-“

A knock at the door interrupted him.

“What?” he yelled.

The door opened and Sebastián Coates walked in. 

“Bad news,” he announced. “That idiot who gave you the info is dead. Apparently Lugano sent him to sleep with the fish. Yeah, and Ramírez is nowhere to be found.”

Luis rolled his eyes. 

“You’re saying that like it was the Apocalypse. What did you expect Lugano to do with that snitch, to give him a medal?”

Coates blinked in surprise and shot a look at Eguren, who was giving him clear signs that he would kick his ass later. 

“But… what about Ramírez?” he asked then.

“Last time I saw him, he was chatting up that whore your friend Eguren failed to fuck because I dragged him here. So I suppose he is in heaven getting the blowjob of his life. You don’t have to worry about him.” 

Luis reached for his glass and downed it. Did he  _really_  have to do everything himself?

“Which makes me think now, I could use one myself!” he said then and looked at Eguren and Coates. “Volunteers?”

 

***

 

The hotel room suggested that Paolo simply preferred luxury over anonymity.  _And who knows what fake ID he could have checked in here with, anyways._  

From the start it was clear that it would all go the way Paolo wanted it to go. In a way it was easier. It made up for all Edi’s lack of experience, because Paolo sure knew what to do, and even when Edi’s brain yelled at him to quit, it wasn’t that easy, with Paolo’s hand on the back of his neck, holding him in place.

After all, he simply couldn’t quit. This was business. Such things had to be finished once they were started. So he just kept thinking about random things, biting into his wrist, trying to concentrate on that pain and not the others.

Only the desire to get out of there as soon as possible made him get up while Paolo casually lit a cigarette.

“The best thing about this random fuck is that it didn’t even feel like a random fuck,” Paolo said with a satisfied grin.

“So will you give Vargas a call?” Edi asked, somehow managing to keep his voice calm.

Paolo chuckled.

“You’re a heartless little bitch, you know?”

“You don’t have feelings for me, so don’t call me heartless. You got what you wanted.”

Paolo smirked and nodded, blowing a small cloud of smoke.

“Okay. Yeah, I will give Vargas a call. Tell Lugano I will see him tomorrow night.” 

“Fine.”

Edi grabbed his jacket and headed to the door. 

“I would still give Vargas the call, you know!” Paolo called. “It’s a damn good deal, actually. But it would mean no fun for me. It was better like this.”

Edi closed his eyes for a moment, then opened the door and banged it behind him. Even at the end of the corridor, he could still hear Paolo’s laughter.

 

***

 

Martín woke up at the sound of the doorbell. He lit the lamp on the bed table, knocking over an empty glass, and looked at his watch. 

3:30 am.

He got up. Before he got to the door, the doorbell rang again. He groaned, opened the door and looked at Edi. 

“What…” he started.

It hit him when he looked him in the eyes.

“No, you didn’t…” 

Edi nodded and with a quiet sob curled up in his arms. Martín sighed and held him tighter.

“Stupid thing!” he whispered.


	11. Eleven

The sun was slowly coming out, filling the room with pinkish light. Martín had already given up on sleeping. He was lying on the bed, staring at the bruises on Edi’s body, counting them over and over again.

He shouldn’t have left. He shouldn’t have left him there.

A sound of an incoming text message interrupted the silence. Martín looked at Edi quickly, but the sound didn’t seem to rouse him from his sleep at all. He didn’t look like he was going to wake up any time soon. It was a miracle that he even got home safe and sound. He almost fell asleep in the shower and when Martín managed to get him to bed, he just curled up and fell asleep within seconds.

Martín reached for the phone. The message was from Charo and at first he frowned at where she had his number from, when he remembered that he actually gave it to her after she informed him about Fucile. After all, she seemed to be a better informant than anyone he knew. Plus she wasn’t even a snitch he’d have to pay insane money to, and she could get closer to Suárez’s people than he or anyone of Lugano’s people could.

_Need 2 talk 2 u. Usual place?_

Martín took a moment to think. He was planning to talk to Lugano – no, he was planning to  _yell_  at Lugano, but truth was that Lugano wasn’t probably at the club yet. And if he was, he was certainly having his morning mate – and interrupting Lugano during his mate ritual was a clear suicide.

_Will be there in an hour._

He sneaked out of the bedroom quietly, got dressed and closed the door behind him.

 

***

 

Diego woke up with even bigger headache than he went to bed with. He wished he could blame it on too much work or the Cosmopolitans, but the truth was none of these had anything to do with the headache. Or maybe just a little.

He had to stop at a dirty little bar on his way home and take a shot of – he didn’t even remember what it was. Then he walked home, cursing and calling himself names, not giving a damn about the people who were staring at him.

Somewhere between coming home and going to bed, he came to the conclusion that he was a lonesome, boring workaholic with no friends, he was a coward, an idiot and a miserable person, and he was desperately in love with someone who apparently wasn’t giving a damn about him. In his slightly drunken state, he even wrote a list of all these characteristics on the mirror in his bathroom with a permanent marker. 

After waking up and going to the bathroom, he confirmed to himself everything written on the mirror and added “hungry” to his current state. He quickly brushed his teeth, glanced at the full washing machine, reminded himself to wash his clothes later, and went to get some breakfast.

 

***

 

Charo was waiting at the usual place, dressed in black shorts, a pink lacey top and a short leather jacket. She looked tired and her make-up needed some major touch-ups.

“So what’s so important?” Martín asked after she snatched a cigarette from him.

“Maybe you’d want to know that the cop who was investigating Abreu’s death was at Suárez’s club yesterday.”

Martín looked at her incredulously. 

“What the hell were you doing at Suárez’s club?”

“I was  _the hell_  working there,” Charo snapped. “And spying for you in the meanwhile.”

Martín sighed.

“What was that cop doing there?” he asked.

“Do you think he told me that? Anyways, Suárez knows he was there. But I think that cop already knows this all has something to do with Suárez and Lugano, so he will probably go to Lugano’s club as well.”

“I wish him good luck,” Martín chuckled. “Lugano will mix him into Bloody Marys.”

Charo laughed and lit another cigarette.

“You look like shit today,” she noted. “Problems?” 

“As always. There’s one asshole that pisses me off.”

Charo gave him a sympathetic look.

“Well, anything else you want to tell me?” Martín asked.

“Not much. I was sitting with Eguren and Ramírez, but they didn’t say anything important. Eguren was staring at my boobs all the time, and then I gave Ramírez a blowjob, and you wouldn’t believe...”

“Charo, please!” Martín rolled his eyes. “I don’t need to know any details, alright?”

“Whatever,” Charo grinned. “I just wanted to cheer you up.”

“With details of a blowjob?”

“Well, the size of Ramírez’s cock would probably cheer you up.”

“How can you know, you haven’t seen mine,” Martín laughed. 

“Trust me,” Charo said. “It would cheer you up.”

 

***

 

Diego ordered a cup of coffee and a sandwich. After a while of staring into space, he noticed the waitress was trying to ask him something.

“Sorry, what?” he blurted out. 

“I was asking if you wanted the sandwich with or without cheese.”

Something in Diego wanted to yell that he couldn’t care less about some fucking cheese, and put there a piece of paper if you want, thank you very much, but finally he managed to keep at least a bit calm. 

“Without.”

The waitress took a sandwich from the little fridge and put it in the microwave oven.

“It will be ready in a few minutes, I will bring it to you.”

Diego nodded and headed to a table. He realized that he forgot to bring newspapers, which meant he would look like a desperate loner again.

He put sugar in his coffee and stirred it. The waitress brought the sandwich and he thanked her. Everything was normal. Everything was under control.

Until a shadow fell on him and he heard a familiar voice and knew that he was screwed. 

“Another day off?” 

Diego took a deep breath and wished he could just disappear. But of course he couldn’t.

“Sort of.”

Edi sat opposite to him and Diego suddenly realized how hard it was to be angry with him. He was looking at him like nothing ever happened, his eyes still warm and trusting, the tired smile on his lips. And what did actually happen? It wasn’t like anything was Edi’s fault. They weren’t  _dating_ , for fuck’s sake, he could go wherever he wanted to, with whoever he wanted to.

“You wanted to tell me something last time,” Edi said when it was clear that Diego wasn’t going to start the conversation.

“I don’t think it matters now.” 

“Why?” 

Diego bit his lip. Then he couldn’t hold it anymore. 

“I saw you last night in Ciudad Vieja.” 

Edi looked at him. 

“Did you?” 

“Who was that guy with you?” 

Diego would slap himself for a question like that, but it was already out.

“Nobody important.” 

“You let nobody important to hold you like that?” 

_Shut the fuck up, Diego._  

“When I have to. When I need something from him.” 

Diego blinked. 

“What?” he breathed.

“I know what it sounds like, but I’m not a prostitute.” 

“I didn’t think you were…” 

He so fucking did. 

“It was business, alright?” Edi said, his voice suddenly sharp and cold.

Diego noticed that Edi was nervously tugging at the hem of his sleeve, and that the fingers of his hand that was resting on the table were shaking.

“It had to be a pretty nasty business,” Diego stated. 

Edi lifted his head and looked at him.

“Who are you to judge me?” he whispered.

Diego opened his mouth, but didn’t actually know what to say. Edi was right. Who was he? 

He watched Edi get up and go to the door, and once again confirmed to himself that he was a coward, because he couldn’t bring himself to do anything to make him stay.

 

***

 

Martín stormed into Lugano’s office and banged the door behind him.

“So are you happy now?” he yelled.

Lugano looked up from some papers. 

“Good morning. I suppose you’re talking about the fact that Vargas will receive a phone call. Yes, I’m happy.”

“And are you happy with  _why_  he will receive it? Or you don’t care as always?”

Lugano got up from his chair, gaining a height advantage immediately.

“Enough!” he said.

It was almost a whisper, but it made Martín shut up immediately.

“If I remember it well, I didn’t tell him to do it. I didn’t say I wanted him to do it. I didn’t say anything at all. Or you remember it differently?” Lugano said.

Martín shook his head. 

“Which means that it was entirely his own decision. If he didn’t do it, I wouldn’t say anything. Do I think that Paolo is an asshole? Yes, I do. But whatever happened between them two isn’t my fucking business. So go yell at your boyfriend if you have a problem, not me! Why are you yelling at me? Because I can take it?”

Martín felt miserable, even more miserable because he knew that Lugano was right, and because even though Lugano was an asshole, truth was he  _was_  being unfair to him.

“Well, I can take it, but I refuse to! Don’t you think that you kind of tend to forget who’s in charge here? Do I need to remind you?”

“No.”

“No? I’d say I do. What shall I do? Bend you over this table so that you and your boyfriend can relate?”

A heavy silence fell between them. Then Lugano sighed deeply.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

Martín’s eyes went wide. Has he just heard Lugano  _apologize_  to him? That was like seeing a pink dinosaur casually crossing the street.

“Let’s just get done with the Peruvian bastard tonight,” Lugano said quietly. “Try to keep your mouth shut. You know he will provoke you. Don’t let him get what he wants.”

“He already got what he wanted,” Martín pointed out.

“I told you that it wasn’t my fault!” Lugano said and there was such a strong warning in it that Martín immediately slumped back into his chair.

“There might be a little problem tonight,” Martín said then.

“What problem?” 

“Well, there’s this cop who’s been sniffing around here since we got rid of Abreu… apparently he was at Suárez’s yesterday and he might appear here. It wouldn’t be good if he appeared tonight.”

Lugano nodded.

“No, it certainly wouldn’t. I will tell Muslera to take care of that.”

Martín got up. He realized that he really needed to go home, check on Edi, eat something and get some sleep if he was to put up with the Peruvian asshole in the evening.

“Remember what I told you. Keep your mouth shut. If you don’t, I swear you will regret it. You know I can make you regret it!” Lugano said.

Martín smiled bitterly. 

“It’s not like I haven’t been through a lot with you.”

“No, you haven’t been through almost anything with me,” Lugano said with a predatory smile. “When this is all over and I’m in the mood, I will show you what you haven’t been through yet.” 

Martín looked at him and noticed that Lugano was dangerously contented. 

“I don’t forget things,” Lugano said quietly. “I just postpone them.”

 

***

 

Martín found Edi on the sofa and as the look at his face reminded him a lot of the way he looked that night he shot the two guys in the old factory, he knew that it wasn’t good at all. He sat on the sofa next to him. 

“You’re not speaking to me?” he asked. 

“You shouldn’t be talking to me,” Edi said quietly. 

_Yes, this was definitely not good._

“Why?”

“I’m disgusting.” 

Martín sighed deeply. Then he reached out and pulled Edi into a hug. 

“You are not disgusting!” he said firmly. “You’re a beautiful person inside and out, and whoever tells you otherwise can go fuck himself!”

He felt Edi snuggle against him and held him tighter. 

“I was so afraid to come home,” Edi whispered. “I was afraid that you wouldn’t want to see me anymore. Because I felt like the most miserable, ugly thing in the world. I still do.” 

Martín marveled at the fact that Edi had called this den his  _home_  for a while.

“Even if you were the ugliest thing in the world…” he said then and smiled at Edi. “I would still love you.”


	12. Twelve

Martín was really proud of himself. Over the past few minutes he managed not to kick Paolo’s ass despite numerous hints Paolo was giving him. Lugano’s threatening looks were also helping a lot. 

Finally Paolo got up from the chair.

“Fine. It should be ready in about a week. I’ll let you know about the exact time.”

Lugano nodded. It was obvious that he also felt relieved that dealing with Paolo is over for at least a week. Paolo smirked as if he could see inside them all.

“And send someone who has manners. Not this one!” he pointed to Martín. 

He looked around and his eyes landed at Edi. 

“Him.”

Martín shot a look at Lugano, but Lugano didn’t seem like he found the request weird.

“As you wish,” he said in a bored voice.

“Fine,” Paolo purred. “As we already know each other quite well…”

Martín was pretty sure that if Edi didn’t dig his fingers into his wrist, he would have choked Paolo right then and there.

“Would you please do your flirting somewhere else than in my office?” Lugano said. “Honestly, it makes me a bit sick with how pathetic it is.”

Paolo raised his eyebrows.

“I can’t even imagine how bad you must be at flirting, then.”

“I don’t flirt,” Lugano said with a smirk. “Don’t have time for that. I prefer getting to it straight away. Sex is sex, everything else is a waste of time.”

Paolo laughed and then sighed like he was sorry to have to end an interesting conversation. Finally, he turned to Edi.

“Kiss me goodbye?”

Edi stepped back, hiding behind Martín’s back instinctively.

“No?” Paolo asked with feigned disappointment. “Okay, maybe next time.”

With another smirk, he walked out of the office. 

“What an asshole!” Martín growled.

“Him?” Lugano chuckled. “You haven’t met Vargas.”

“I don’t even want to,” Martín assured him.

 

***

 

Diego sat at the bar and breathed a sigh of relief. Unlike Suárez’s club, this wasn’t a place anyone would enter just like that. The bouncer at the entrance was giving him contemptuous looks and Diego felt like a teenager who wants to enter a cool club with a fake ID.

He ordered a shot of tequila because he felt sick at the mere thought of cosmopolitans. Just as he took it and turned around, a dark haired man with arms covered with tattoos passed him by. Diego would swear to God that he knew him from somewhere.

He drank up the tequila and then he remembered. This was the man he had seen Edi with. Without thinking, he started following him. That he was here was even more suspicious to Diego. This place was a haven for the biggest bastards around, who were making their foul deals here, either between themselves or with Lugano. He simply couldn’t get what Edi had to do with someone like that.

The man stopped at the bar downstairs. Diego stopped as well, keeping the safe distance. Then his eyes flickered to the other corner of the bar and his stomach clenched.

There he was. Edi, sitting at a table with a man with long hair, laughing over something. When Edi reached for his glass, he glanced over in Diego’s direction, like the Devil just whispered it in his ear.

Their eyes locked for a moment. Then the other man looked in his direction as well and Diego was sure that he knew this one as well, even though he never met him in person. He suddenly felt like he needed some fresh air. Conveniently, the man he was following before finished his drink and headed to the entrance. Diego followed him, trying to erase the previous image from his mind.

 

***

 

Nando sat at the table Martín and Edi were sitting at and sighed.

“I think I’m screwed!” he said. 

“Why?” Martín asked.

“Well, noticed that fucking cop who just left?” Nando said. “He noticed that Peruvian bastard before I noticed him, so if something happens now, Lugano will kill me.”

“Calm down,” Martín said. “Paolo can take care of himself. I wouldn’t be surprised if that cop just killed himself simply because he couldn’t take so much arrogance.”

Nando laughed. 

“Alright. I’m going to check it from the terrace.”

When he left the table and disappeared upstairs, Martín turned to Edi and frowned. Edi looked like he’s just seen a ghost. 

“What’s wrong?” Martín asked.

Edi took a deep breath.

“Martín… That cop, you know, that blond one…”

“Yeah?” 

“I know him.”

“How do you mean that you know him?” 

Edi told him how he met Diego at the bistro, and with every word Martín looked more and more shocked. 

“Are you crazy?” he yelled finally. “He’s a cop!”

“I didn’t know!” Edi objected. 

“Well, you do now!” Martín snapped. “Fucking realize we’re on the opposite side! If you want to end up in prison and get me, Nando and a few others there as well, then you can continue!”

Edi lowered his eyes.

“I… I promise I won’t meet him anymore,” he said then. “Just don’t tell Lugano!”

“What?” Martín frowned. 

“Don’t… don’t tell him about what I told you, don’t tell him that I know Diego. I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“ _Him_?”

“Promise you won’t tell him!”

Martín shook his head in disbelief at the sight of Edi’s pleading eyes.

“You’re crazy.”

“Promise!”

“Okay,” Martín said finally.

“You promise you won’t tell Lugano?” 

“Yeah, I promise.”

Edi smiled at him. Martín sighed and wrapped his arm around Edi’s waist.

“Jesus, you can be so stupid sometimes that it hurts!” he sighed.

 

***

 

Diego took a deep breath when he finally pushed past all the people and walked out of the club. The air smelled of all different kinds of perfume and alcohol. His head was spinning and he felt like kicking something.

Then he remembered what he was doing and looked around. He spotted the man a few steps away from him and followed him. Only to find himself slammed against a wall a few moments later.

“What the fuck is your problem?” the man asked and Diego recognized Peruvian accent almost immediately.

“N-nothing,” he said, despite wanting to shout at the man what his problem was, and also to add a few punches to underline the words.

But Tabárez wouldn’t be happy with him if he did that. 

“Nothing. You just decided to be my shadow tonight, eh?”

Diego didn’t answer, not trusting his temper enough to speak. Then he blinked in shock when he felt a gun being pressed to his side.

“Better tell me what your problem is before I decide you’re just too annoying to deal with. I don’t think anyone would even notice if I shot you right here.”

Diego licked his lips.

“What do you have in common with Edi?” he asked finally. 

The Peruvian’s eyebrows shot up in surprise and then he laughed.

“Who are you, another boyfriend of his or something?” he asked. “Well, I fucked him. It was good, I liked it, thanks for asking. Want to know details?”

Diego shook his head.

“Fine!” the man said and stuck his gun back inside his pocket. “Now fuck off.”

Diego watched him go to his car, shaking his head and laughing quietly.

“So much drama for one ass…”

 

***

 

Nando watched the scene with wide eyes. When Paolo’s car disappeared from his sight, he turned around and walked over to the bar where Diego Godín was chatting up a waitress.

“So?” he asked after an unsuccessful attempt to touch the waitress’ butt, which earned him a slap in the face.

“Nice slap,” Nando said.

“I was asking about that cop.” 

“Yeah, he left. I don’t know what it was between him and that Peruvian prick, but he’s gone now.”

“Good,” Godín said. “Are you going to tell Lugano?” 

“Yeah. Leave the girls alone until I come back, alright?” Nando grinned and headed to the stairs.

 

***

 

Lugano looked at Martín, Edi and Nando, who were all sitting in his office.

“Muslera, I want you to make sure the cop doesn’t appear here anymore!” he said. “Tell the guys at the entrance that he is not welcome here, alright?” 

Nando nodded and got up. He was glad Lugano didn’t scold him for anything this time.

When the door closed behind him, Lugano looked at Edi and smiled.

“You learn fast,” he said. 

“By mistakes,” Edi smiled bitterly.

“Forget about that asshole, he’s just trying to be better than his teacher, which is a way to hell, by the way.”

Edi nodded absently. 

“Excuse me, he can’t forget about him just yet,” Martín said. “You agreed on him making the deal with Paolo.”

“Of course, but that will be just a formality,” Lugano replied calmly. “Well paid formality.” 

When they were leaving the office, Lugano grabbed Martín’s arm and pulled him back.

“Now that the bastard’s gone… I think I promised you something,” he said quietly.

Martín looked at him like he wanted to estimate the level of danger. Judging from the mischievous smile on Lugano’s face, the level was pretty high.

“Tomorrow, seven o’clock, my place,” Lugano said. “Don’t be late. It could make me angry. Not a good thing, eh?”

Martín nodded and closed the door behind him. 

Angry or not, being alone with Lugano was never a good thing.

 

***

 

Luis walked into his office and closed the door with relief. It blocked out the loud music at least a little bit. He switched on the lights and almost screamed.

There was Radamel Falcao sitting in his chair, his legs casually laid on the table. 

“You fucking loser,” he said. 

“What… what the hell are you doing here?” Luis asked, tempted to add “smoking  _my_  cigars and drinking  _my_  brandy”. 

“I came to the conclusion that you are useless and your people are  _beyond_  useless,” Falcao said and put the cigar out, using  _Luis’_ favorite ashtray. “So I thought… that you might need some help.”


	13. Thirteen

Luis woke up with a vague feeling or having done something he shouldn’t have done, but couldn’t remember what it was.

“Good morning,” a lazy voice sounded from the armchair in the corner of the room. “Thought you’d sleep forever. Honestly, in some moments I even thought you were dead. 

Luis would jump up from the bed at that very moment, if his body wasn’t that sore and tired. He only managed to moan and turn to his side, only to see  _Radamel fucking Falcao_  sitting in the armchair wearing nothing but white briefs. 

“Seems like I wore you out a little bit,” he chuckled at the sight of Luis. “Not used to taking it up your arse anymore, eh?”

“No,” Luis said, crawling out of the bed. “I have people for that.” 

“Don’t tell me they’re as good as I am. Or don’t tell me you enjoy that more than you enjoy it with me,” Falcao frowned.

“Shut up,” Luis mumbled on his way to the bathroom. 

“You’re shit when you top, I’m sure it hasn’t changed!” Falcao shouted at him when Luis tried to block him out with closing the shower enclosure door and running the water. 

_Damn it to the fucking hell._  

“Actually,” Falcao said, opening the door before Luis could stop him and tell him to leave him alone for at least a few minutes. “I’ve always wanted to know… did Lugano use to like fucking you?”

“Fuck off!” Luis groaned. 

“I bet he did. That’s probably why he’s so pissed with you, even after all this time. He must miss you so bad. I would miss that ass for sure.”

“Well, he has another fuck toy now!” Luis said, finally giving up on taking the shower and just standing under the warm spray. “Which he stole from me by the way, so yeah, I’m the one pissed here.”

“He didn’t steal it,” Falcao reminded him. “You didn’t want it anymore, he just picked it up from where you threw it away.” 

Luis frowned while Falcao sighed deeply. 

“It’s probably the best proof of your stupidity. Where could you have been if you weren’t so paranoid? So bad at seeing into people. I’m not even here for most of the time, but I could always see Cáceres wasn’t the one who’d want to become the leader. He’s fine just where he is. To be the leader, you have to be an ass, which he isn’t.”

“Didn’t you say that you were here to help me?” Luis asked. “So far you’re only scolding me and praising that little traitor. When exactly did you fall in love with him?”

Falcao chuckled.

“Sure, I will help you,” he said casually, taking his briefs off and stepping under the water. “But for now I’d like a little starter before breakfast. Hope you don’t mind.”

Luis mumbled a quick prayer to God. He didn’t even have enough courage to ask how long Falcao was staying.

 

***

 

“I shouldn’t even be here,” Edi said, taking a nervous look around. “I promised I’d never meet you again.”

Diego sighed, reaching out as if he wanted to pat him on the shoulder, but then stopped halfway and got back to stirring his coffee.

“What were you doing at that place?” he asked.

“What about you?” Edi retorted. “You weren’t honest with me, why do you expect me to be honest with you?”

“And if I told you I was a cop, would you never talk to me?”

“Probably.”

Diego closed his eyes for a moment. 

“But now you know and you’re still talking to me.” 

“I just wanted to…” Edi said, pausing when a young couple passed them by. “Warn you. They won’t let you in anymore, but still… avoid that club.” 

“So you’re taking the risk just to warn me?”

“I don’t risk that much. You can’t arrest me for going to a club, can you?”

Diego smiled weakly.

“No, I can’t. There are other things I’m worried about than just seeing you in that club.”

“Like what?”

Diego looked at him.

“Where do you know Martín Cáceres from?” he asked quietly. 

Edi looked at him, the surprise in his eyes slowly changing into defiance.

“He’s my boyfriend.”

Diego gasped. 

“And do you know…” he started then. 

“I know who he is,” Edi interrupted him. “And I know what he’s like. I know he would never hurt me and never let anyone hurt me. That’s what I know, and it’s enough. Whatever picture you have of him, it’s not complete.” 

“You work for Lugano, don’t you?” Diego asked quietly.

“And if I did?”

Diego gave him a tired look. 

“I’d probably try to get you out of this,” he said.

“You don’t have to get me out of this. I chose this.”

“Wrong choice.”

“It’s too late anyways.”

“I know it’s not too late for you. Sometimes I see the kids and I know that it’s too late, but you still have your old self inside, and sometimes it shines through. It’s so beautiful that it shines.” 

Edi was looking at him, the defiance slowly disappearing from his eyes and melting into confusion. 

“Why do you even care?” he asked. “You don’t know me.”

“Because I like you,” Diego said quietly.

He reached in his pocket and threw his business card on the table.

“If you change your mind about who your friends really are, call me.”

“I don’t need your help,” Edi said.

Diego took a breath, but was interrupted by his phone which started to ring.

“Excuse me,” he said, got up and went to find a quiet corner. 

When he returned to the table, Edi was gone.

And so was his business card.

 

***

 

“You’re a sick bastard, I hope you know it!”

“Of course I know it,” Lugano smiled, tying Martín’s wrists above his head. “You tell me every time we do this.” 

He leaned down and brushed Martín’s lips with his.

“But you like it!” he whispered. 

Martín didn’t remember a single moment in which he would express any appreciation for Lugano’s actions, but denying something Lugano said was true was useless.

It was true that Lugano knew what to do to make Martín’s body like it, but his body and mind rarely agreed with each other.

“You could have learned to trust me at least a little bit after all this time…” Lugano said when Martín involuntarily flinched at the sight of a blindfold. 

It didn’t have anything to do with not trusting Lugano, he wouldn’t trust  _anyone_  like that. If something was still able to scare him, it was this. His eyes were his only defense here, because Lugano’s face was quite easy to read. 

“You know I have trust issues,” he said, trying to control his voice, but it betrayed him, coming out all shaky. 

“Yeah,” Lugano chuckled. “And this time you’re probably right.”

Martín took a sharp breath when something cold touched his skin. It was cold and sharp.

“What is that?” he breathed out. 

Lugano laughed shortly.

“Guess.”

The knife started dancing on his body, touching his skin lightly, only scratching it. Then it stopped and he finally took a breath which he hadn’t dared before. When the blade of the knife cut through his skin, it took him completely by surprise. It hurt as hell, and he bit his lip so hard that he tasted blood immediately. But in comparison with the other pain, it was nothing. 

“Oh, I forgot to tell you!” Lugano said, licking the blood from Martín’s lip. “You don’t have to be quiet this time.”

 

***

 

Diego somehow managed to drag himself to the office, but when he switched the computer on, he realized that he was even further away from solving the case than he was before. 

He couldn’t enter any of the bars anymore. He knew nothing about what was going on between Lugano and Suárez. And the only person who could tell him was someone he would have problems arresting.

For a while he was considering going to Tabárez and saying that he was giving up. Then he decided against it. There had to be another way. 

After doing all the paperwork, which he didn’t even mind so much this time, he switched off the computer and got up.

“Hey!” Officer Pérez called at him. “You’re off?” 

“Yeah,” Diego said. 

“Let’s go have a beer.”

“Thanks,” Diego sighed. “But I would be a terrible company tonight.”

“I know,” Pérez smiled. “I see you look like shit. I’m not taking you to cheer me up. It’s me who wants to cheer you up.”

Diego looked at him. There was something so enthusiastic and positive in his face that it made Diego smile. 

“Alright,” he said, took his jacket and switched off the lamp on his table. “Let’s go.”

 

***

 

Lugano quietly set the knife on the bedside table and smiled contentedly. Over the past half-hour, he managed to turn Martín into a crying mess that flinched at the smallest sound or the slightest movement. Which was exactly where he wanted to have him. 

He reached out and pulled the blindfold off Martín’s eyes. 

“And now you will tell me what little thing you and your boyfriend are hiding from me,” he said. 

Martín shook his head slightly, choking on his tears. 

“Oh yes, you will!” Lugano smiled, rather amused by the rests of his resistance. “Unless you want your boyfriend to take your place. I bet I could get it out of him way more easily. Maybe I could even make you watch.” 

Another wave of panic hit Martín at the mere thought of it.

“Please don’t…” he whispered. 

“I’m not doing anything, honey,” Lugano said quietly. “I’m right here, waiting for you to tell me.” 

“I promised him I wouldn’t tell you… I promised…”

“You also promised not to keep anything from me. A long time ago.”

Lugano shifted a bit closer and frowned slightly, a bit disappointed with himself. He should have cut it off a little bit earlier. Well, he thought that he could take more.

“So we will wait for you to calm down a little bit, and then you will tell me, okay?”

The only thing Martín managed to do was to nod. 

“Okay,” Lugano confirmed for him, running his fingers through Martín’s hair as if he were petting a tamed animal.

Actually, he was.

 

***

 

Diego set the glass on the table and started considering having another. It wasn’t like Pérez was the most amusing person in the world, but at least he wasn’t talking shit just for the act of talking, and when he ran off topics, he simply shut his mouth and drank his beer in silence. 

“I’m going to have another one,” Pérez announced.

Diego looked at him, still unsure whether to stay or call it a night. 

“You’re having another one as well,” Pérez grinned and waved at the waitress.

They waited for the beers to arrive and toasted. Diego then looked at the files Pérez set at the table. He remembered Tabárez once saw him do the same and scolded him for it. “Don’t bring files to the bar with you. In ninety percent of cases, you will get drunk and forget them there, and in one hundred percent of cases, you will get fired because of that. 

“Taking work home, eh?” Diego asked, pointing to the files.

“Oh, yes,” Pérez sighed. “They’re these Peruvian fuckers bringing shit in here, you know.”

Diego pulled the files closer and flipped through them absently. One photograph wasn’t attached to the other papers and flew out of the file, landing at Diego’s feet. He picked it up and wanted to put it back. Then he looked at it and froze.

“Holy shit!” he breathed.

He was looking at the man who almost shot him on the street the night before. 

“What?” Pérez asked. “You know him?”

“It will sound weird, but… I don’t really know him, but for some reason he almost shot me yesterday. I don’t even know his name, so I won’t be able to help, I’m afraid.”

“Well,” Pérez sighed. “Meet Paolo Guerrero. And if he  _almost_  shot you, you were damn lucky.”

 

***

 

Nando opened the door and in seconds his eyes went wide. 

“Martín, what the hell…” he blurted out as his friend pushed past him. 

“Don’t ask.” 

Nando shook his head in disbelief and closed the door. 

“Have you seen yourself?” he asked. “You’re…”

“I’m alright.”

“No, you’re not!” Nando shouted, trying to grab Martín by the shoulders and stop him from pacing around the room frenetically. “What the hell happened to you?” 

Martín tried to push him away and whispered a few more “I’m alright” before melting into Nando’s arms.

“Yeah, I see,” Nando sighed, wrapping his arms around Martín, rocking him gently. “You’re absolutely fine.”

 

***

 

“You know what pisses me off?” Falcao said, putting ice into Luis’ whisky. “Apart from your shit taste in alcohol.” 

“What?” Luis asked. 

“That I can’t make deals with both you and Lugano. Because that would be like heaven. If you weren’t in that stupid war, I could make much more money. But like this, he does his business with that fucker Vargas while I’m stuck with you.” 

“Vargas won’t laugh for long. I’ll find a way to foil that deal, don’t worry.” 

“I do worry, Suárez,” Falcao said. “The deal is done, you can only do something to ensure that Lugano won’t get the stuff. And when I imagine your people like Eguren trying to stop Guerrero… excuse me if I laugh too loudly.”

Luis set the glass on the table.

“How the hell do you know all this?” he hissed.

“I’m not an amateur like you,” Falcao grinned. “Only one thing bothers me.”

“What?” 

“I don’t know who Lugano wants to send there.” 

Luis smiled and picked up his glass again.

“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “He’s already dead.”

 

***

 

“I promised him I wouldn’t tell Lugano!”

Nando sighed deeply. After another Martín’s panic attack which  _scared the hell out_  of him, Nando had managed to take off Martín’s clothes, make sure none of cuts –  _or whatever_   _the fuck_   _they were_  – would cause him death, somehow clean them (even though he was a terrible nurse and he knew it) and dress Martín in his own clean clothes. Now he was pretty much exhausted and worried. 

“Jesus, stop blaming yourself!” Nando said. “If someone did this to me, I would probably betray my own mother.”

“How can I go home now?” Martín looked at Nando like a kid who just got a bad grade. “How can I tell him I couldn’t keep my promise?”

“Then don’t!” Nando shrugged. “It’s his fucking problem, if he wants to mess around with cops, alright, and you’re already paying for it, so I don’t see why you should be even sorry. If Lugano gets mad at him, let him deal with it. He’s not a kid anymore, he can take care of himself.”

“You don’t understand.”

“No,” Nando said. “No, I don’t understand. You’re my best friend and I would never ask you to keep secrets from Lugano because I know that when he finds out, which he always does, he beats the crap out of you – if you’re lucky.”

Martín looked at him and then tried to get up.

“Where are you going?” Nando asked.

“Home.”

“The hell you aren’t going anywhere,” Nando said and pulled him back. “You’re going to bed now.”

Martín let himself be guided to the bedroom, unable to fight anything that was happening anymore. His whole body hurt, even  _thinking_  hurt. 

“Nando?” he asked when Nando tucked him under the blankets, a bit too carefully.

“Yeah?”

“Could you stay here with me?”

Nando looked at him, a bit unsure at first. Then he smiled.

“Of course.”


	14. Fourteen

Edi opened the door and blinked when he saw Nando behind them.

“Yes, I will come in, thanks!” Nando said and walked in.

“What are you…” Edi started.

Nando pushed him to the sofa. 

“Now listen, mate!” he said. “Ever since you appeared, everything is pure madness. Alright, the war between Lugano and Suárez isn’t your fault, but don’t you think that it keeps us busy enough? No need to bring other shit into it. Like cops.” 

“I didn’t…” 

“I’m not done talking yet!” Nando snapped. “First, deal with your problems alone, don’t drag anyone else into it, and mainly not Martín. He’s been through enough shit already, he doesn’t need more, and certainly not from Lugano of all people. Second, we avoid cops, we don’t hang out with them. And third, if something else happens, I’ll go right to Lugano and tell him about it, and about this, and maybe I’ll make something else up to make Lugano get rid of you. Martín will probably shed a few tears because he seems to be really fond of you, but at least Lugano won’t kill him because of you.” 

Edi just kept staring at him. Nando finished his rant and took a deep breath. 

“I need a beer,” he said finally and stormed out of the door.

 

***

 

Luis was sitting in his office with the lights off. He instructed Coates and Eguren to keep Falcao as far from him as possible and if he asked, to tell him he wasn’t there. Now he was so paranoid that he didn’t even dare to shuffle in his chair, even though Falcao wouldn’t hear it even if he was right behind the door.

There was a knock on the door. Luis kept pretending he wasn’t there, actually considering climbing under the table before he realized how childish he was acting.

“It’s me!” Coates’ voice sounded from the corridor. 

Luis crept to the door, unlocked it and ushered Coates in. There was a slightly confused look on Coates’ face, but he didn’t dare to ask anything.

“What is it?” Luis asked. 

“Eh... we have a little problem with a customer,” Coates said. “Arévalo Ríos.” 

“What about him?” 

“Apparently the police arrested him and he told them he was buying from us.” 

“He told them he was buying from Luis Suárez or from some two fuckers called Coates and Eguren?” Luis asked.

“Um... I think the second one.”

Luis shrugged.

“Then it’s your problem. Well, take a few days off and hide in a hole somewhere until the storm is over. I hope I can manage with Ramírez until then.” 

Coates nodded gratefully and headed to the door. When he opened it, he practically bumped into Radamel Falcao. 

“So here you are!” Falcao grinned at the sight of Luis desperately trying to hide in the shadows. “Come out, I got some interesting news.”

 

***

 

Martín could tell right from the look on Edi’s face that Nando did as he threatened to do and came to scold him.

“So he was here,” he sighed as he dropped down on the sofa. 

Edi shuffled closer to him and reached out tentatively, as if he was expecting Martín to push him away. When he didn’t, he carefully wrapped his arms around him. 

“I didn’t want it,” he whispered. “Whatever it was Lugano did to you, I didn’t want it to happen.”

“I know,” Martín sighed. “It’s alright. I... I’ll be alright.” 

He lay in Edi’s lap and stared at the ceiling.

“The only thing I’m scared of is that I have to go there tonight and meet him,” he said quietly.

“Lugano?” 

Martín nodded and looked at him. 

“Will you go with me?” 

He wasn’t sure Edi was much of a protection against anything as he was probably more scared of Lugano than Martín was, but it was still better than going alone. And if he took Nando with him, Lugano would immediately guess he did so just not to go alone. 

“Of course I will,” Edi said. 

Martín looked up at him and knew that he couldn’t tell him that he had broken the promise. He was just hoping that Edi wouldn’t find out.

 

***

 

Diego woke up to a slight hangover. At first he couldn’t remember where he got drunk. Then the memories of the quite pleasant evening with Pérez came back. Except for the headache he was a bit worried if he hadn’t said anything he shouldn’t have. He hoped that he had kept his mouth shut, at least about Edi and other things. 

The telephone rang just when he walked out of the bathroom. He picked it up. It was Tabárez. 

“Don’t you think that you forgot to tell me something?” 

_Shit_. Apparently he did say something. 

“About what?” he asked carefully.

“About almost getting shot by a Peruvian criminal for example?”

In a way, Diego felt relieved. 

“I want you in my office in an hour.”

“Will be there.”

He got dressed quickly, grabbed his car keys and walked out of his apartment. 

About an hour later, he was sitting in his boss’ office. Tabárez looked more worried than angry, but he still gave Diego a hard time for not telling him. 

“Well, actually... it was personal,” Diego said. 

“What was personal?”

“Well, he didn’t want to kill me because I’m a cop. It was rather a personal thing.” 

“Are you trying to tell me that you socialize with thugs like Guerrero enough to have personal affairs with them?”

Diego bit his lip.

“Well, not exactly. We both know one person and were actually... kind of... fighting over that person.”

“Good God!” Tabárez rolled his eyes. “Find a girlfriend somewhere else, don’t steal them from criminals.” 

Diego sighed and nodded. Apart from the “girlfriend”, Tabárez was right.

 

***

 

Lugano looked a bit surprised when Martín and Edi walked in his office. 

“Well, didn’t think you’d actually turn up!” he said. 

“You asked me,” Martín said, avoiding his gaze.

“Yes, I did. Vargas called me about that deal. It’s going down in two days.”

“Why are you telling me?” Martín asked. “It’s Edi making the deal, not me.” 

“I’m telling you two. He’s making the deal, you’ll take the stuff to the transition shed after he’s done, as he doesn’t know where it is. Oh, and I’ll want you two to go deliver in to a customer the night after, well, we have enough time for that.” 

Martín nodded.

“Is that all?” 

Lugano smiled.

“You’re pretty curt with me. I hope you don’t take our yesterday’s meeting personally.”

“No.” 

He was surprised himself that he wasn’t actually lying. The reason why Lugano did it was actually business. He needed information and he was pretty angry with Martín keeping secrets from him. It was way different from their usual meetings that were about Lugano having fun in his own twisted way.

“Fine. I’ll tell you the exact hour when Vargas or that fucker Guerrero call me. Don’t disappoint me, alright? It’s not like I’m in love with you much now.” 

Without another word Martín turned around and walked out of the office, dragging Edi along. He slowed down only when they were outside the club.

“Was it that bad?” Edi asked quietly.

“Bad enough.”

Edi wrapped his arm around Martín’s waist and headed to the car.

“When did I say that you could drive?” Martín asked, smirking.

Edi laughed.

“You’re starting to feel better, I’d say.”

They drove home almost in silence, and had no idea that a car was following them.

 

***

 

Edi was sitting on the sofa, staring at the clock. He still had some time left before the meeting with Paolo. He asked Martín to leave him alone that evening. He saw how worried Martín was and it was making him nervous as well.

Paolo was a bastard. He knew that. When there were other people around, he was all talk no act, but once they were alone, he simply did what he wanted, took what he wanted without asking. He wasn’t sure at all that he would even get out of it alive. There was no assurance that Paolo wouldn’t shoot him, take the money and disappear. 

Edi looked at his phone. Just in case it was about to happen, he wanted to make sure that he wouldn’t leave things unfinished, unexplained. He wasn’t worried about Martín, as he wasn’t keeping anything from him. On the other hand, with Diego he had left pretty much of a mess behind. 

He fished Diego’s business card from his pocket.  _Messages. Compose New Message._  

What was he even going to write? Sorry for being a criminal? Sorry for being so stupid to become one? Sorry for making a deal with Guerrero in the district you work? Sorry for not talking to you again because you’re a cop?

He decided to keep it short. 

_Sorry._

 

***

 

Martín was sitting on the terrace, staring at his phone. It wasn’t like it was supposed to ring anytime soon, but he simply didn’t know what else to do. 

A high-pitched female voice sounded from the street. It was familiar.

“You motherfucking gorilla… put the hands away, just let me in!”

Martín ran down the stairs and looked at Charo, who was trying to kill the bouncer with her handbag.

“It’s alright,” he told the bouncer. “Let her in!”

Charo gave the bodyguard a hateful look, smashed him over the head with her handbag for one last time and entered the club. 

“What’s up?” Martín asked.

“What’s that important deal going on tonight?” she asked, a bit out of breath as if she had been running.

Martín gasped.

“How the hell do you know…”

“I don’t,” Charo said. “But Suárez does.”

Martín kept looking at her for a while. Then he pushed past the people at the entrance and jumped in the car. 

“Wait!” Charo yelled. “You can’t…” 

The tires screeched and a few people jumped out of the car’s way. 

“Go there alone,” Charo finished for herself. “Holy shit!” 

She looked around the club and sighed. 

“Alright, Charo, let’s use the thing called brain now!” she told herself and headed to the stairs.

 

***

 

Diego heard his phone beep, but didn’t look at it. He stared at the door in front of him. He had spent already two nights here. He didn’t even know why. Somehow he sensed that it would lead him to something.

The door opened and Edi walked out. Diego watched him go to the car. Then he started his and followed the lights in front of him.

He hated himself for it.

 

***

 

When Martín got out of the car, everything was quiet and dark around him, except of a few reflectors illuminating the construction site. Then he heard the familiar click behind his ear. He didn’t even reach for his gun this time. It would be of no use. 

“I hoped it would be you,” a voice behind him said.

“Hello, Luis.”

“You’re quite calm for someone who’s going to die,” Luis noted. “Or you’re thinking that maybe you’ll be third time lucky?”

“You never know.” 

“Well, I do know, because in those two cases it wasn’t me holding the gun!” Luis laughed.

“If you say so…”

“So… no begging for your life this time?” Luis asked. 

“I beg you to shut up and shoot me already!” Martín groaned.

Luis laughed again.

“As you wish.”

“I wouldn’t do that, if I were you.” 

Martín didn’t dare to look around, but he didn’t have to. He knew that voice. Apparently Suárez knew it as well, he felt the gun falter in his hand.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

A chuckle was the only response before the gravel crackled under the heavy steps and Lugano walked into the light of the reflector, his gun pointed at Suárez’s head. 

“It’s been a long time,” he said quietly, faking a nostalgic smile.


	15. Fifteen

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Lugano asked in a voice so dangerous that it made Martín shiver, even though the words weren’t addressed to him. “If you wanted to run your own business somewhere else with everything I taught you, I would maybe understand, but it seems to me that you learned nothing. Nothing at all.” 

Luis smirked. 

“Really?” 

“Really,” Lugano confirmed calmly. “If you did, you’d know better than to make deals with Falcao who will rip you off once he gets to fuck you... from the look on your face now I’d say he already did that. You’d know better than to take your best man and practically serve him to me on a silver plate. And you’d care about running your own business more than about trying to ruin me. That only proves it’s not about business, it’s about us two, and it proves that you’re not over me at all, no matter what you say.”

Luis kept staring at him, then slowly turned the gun from Martín’s head to Lugano. 

“Fine, now you finally behave like a grown up man!” Lugano said. “It’s between us two, so let’s keep it there.”

He shot a quick glance at Martín who was already reaching for his gun. 

“That means you keep your gun where it is, Martín. I appreciate your loyalty, but I won’t need it.”

“You know why I left,” Luis said quietly. “I’d never get the power, you’d never give it away. In anything.”

“I know,” Lugano nodded. “I expected you to leave, but when you leave, you leave completely and for ever. What you do is just... you linger. Staying in the same town, doing exactly the same thing, doing things exactly how you had seen me doing them. I get a club, you get one. I make a huge deal, you do one. You’re not over anything, Luis.” 

“Are you?” Luis whispered. “After all those years, you just snap your fingers and start over?”

“I guess that’s what we’ll see now, Luis,” Lugano smiled. “Who is over who. Who can pull the trigger. Maybe you, maybe me, maybe none of us.”

The few seconds of silence seemed like eternity. They could even hear the soft buzzing of  electricity in the few reflectors around. Then there was a shot, loud and dry, no resonance. And silence again.

“Only now I’m over you,” Lugano said.

 

***

 

Martín almost didn’t notice the car that stopped beside them. He was caught in the moment, there was something sacred in it that he didn’t dare to break. During the whole talk between Lugano and Suárez he didn’t dare to move, like the quietest creak of gravel under his feet could cause something terrible. 

On the other hand, he wasn’t surprised. For some reason, he  _knew_  Luis wouldn’t shoot. He knew him that well. And he knew Lugano would. Not because he wanted to. Because he had to. The decision was hard, but he had to do it, and Martín knew why. Lugano had people he was responsible for. Him, Nando, all of the others. And he was ready to be responsible for other things as well. Martín knew that the next day, Lugano would take over all Suárez’s business, because there was nobody among his people who could do it. He knew that Lugano would spread his wings and let Coates and the others come and hide under them, and that it would be an offer he would never repeat again. Who wouldn’t come to be his friend would become his enemy. He was the dangerous angel. Working under him was not easy and sometimes it hurt, but there was some kind of safety in it. Something he’d never felt when he worked for Suárez. 

The sound of a car door being shut finally woke him up. He turned around and looked at Edi.

“What...” Edi started.

“Not your business!” Lugano snapped immediately. “You have other things to do here, and I’m sure now Luis won’t bother you anymore.” 

Martín looked at Lugano and realized he didn’t even have to ask him any questions.

“I had a feeling that Suárez would find out somehow. I moved the meeting for an hour later,” Lugano explained. “You can go now, Martín, nothing to worry about anymore.” 

“But...” 

“I said don’t worry. I’ll overlook this. I’ll take it to the transit shed myself, it will be easier.” 

For some reason it didn’t calm him down at all, but Martín knew better than to argue with Lugano.

“I’ll be at the club,” he said, more to himself than to Edi or Lugano.

Then he got in the car and drove away. He was so lost in thoughts that he didn’t notice the car parked nearby, partly hidden in the shadows.

 

***

 

Edi felt his heart beating rapidly. It was only the second time he was alone with Lugano, and he remembered the first time very well. They weren’t good memories. 

“We still have a couple of minutes,” Lugano said, looking at his expensive watch. 

Edi nodded, biting his lip and glancing over at the gun Lugano was still holding. However frightening it was, it was still better than looking at the place where Luis’ body was. He didn’t know how Lugano could be so relaxed in a situation like this. He wondered if in a few years, he would be the same. 

He was so distracted that he didn’t hear any footsteps or sounds. He didn’t even know what happened when suddenly Lugano pointed his gun at something in the darkness. When Edi managed to look in that direction, he wished he wasn’t there at all. Diego was standing there, his gun pointed at Lugano.

“Throw it away!” Diego shouted.

“Or?” Lugano asked in a lazy voice. 

“Or I shoot you!” 

“Oh, really?” Lugano smirked.

Before Diego could even blink, Lugano grabbed Edi, pulled him close and pressed the gun against his temple. 

“Come on, Detective,” he said calmly. “Now shoot.”

 

***

 

The gun was cold against his skin and yet Lugano’s arm around his waist was warm and firm, and Edi found himself between being scared to death and strangely calm at the same time. In one second he was sure he was going to die, in the next he thought Lugano would never kill him. 

“You think I know nothing about you two?” Lugano asked, and even though Edi couldn’t see his face, he was sure that he was smiling. “Martín loves you, sweetheart, but he’s loyal. And a bit jealous as well. Of course you hanging out with a cop smelled bad to him.”

He turned his attention back to Diego. 

“Why don’t you just shoot him?” he asked, his voice amused and teasing. “What is he? Just a regular criminal. Just like me.”

Diego said nothing, just the grip on his gun tightened. 

“Aren’t you still wondering who shot the two guys at the old factory, Detective? Well, you’re looking at him!” 

Edi found himself hiding his face into the crook of Lugano’s neck, as if he could hide there from the words, from the person he was. He felt more ashamed than scared.

“Don’t act like a coward, Lugano!” Diego said. “Let him go!”

“Why?” Lugano laughed. “Because you say so? He belongs to me.”

“He’s a human being, he doesn’t belong to anyone.”

“Really?” Lugano raised his eyebrows. “Right now, I’d say I’m pretty much in control of his life, don’t you think?” 

Edi closed his eyes as the gun was pressed to his temple harder. A few tears escaped his eyes and he wasn’t even ashamed. He felt Lugano place a kiss in his hair. 

“You should tell your friend to throw away the gun,” he said.

It took a second for Edi’s strange feeling of safety to go away. He didn’t care about anything anymore, about who he was or what he was doing. All he wanted was to curl up in Martín’s arms and feel safe. And suddenly he wasn’t so sure that he would see him again. 

“Diego, please…” Edi said, but the words were barely a whisper.

“Louder,” Lugano urged him. “He can’t hear you.” 

“Diego! He will do it. He will…”

“Come on, Detective, we don’t want our friend to get hurt, do we?” Lugano smiled. “Throw the gun on the ground and kick it to me, now.” 

He kept watching Diego attentively, his face partly hidden in Edi’s hair. 

“Fine!” he murmured when Diego’s gun stopped at his feet. “Nice football skills, Detective.”

“Why the hell is it so crowded here?” a voice said.

They all turned in that direction, only to see Paolo standing there with a gun in his hand. 

“Hey,” Lugano said casually, finally lowering his gun. “Just a little trouble here.”

“I see,” Paolo nodded and took a few steps towards them.

He looked at Diego and sighed.

“Now, you’re already a bit too annoying for my taste!” he said, aimed and fired two shots at him.

Edi wanted to scream, but couldn’t. Instead, he just gasped as he felt his legs buckle. Lugano grabbed him around the waist, pulling him back to his feet and slapping his face to keep him conscious. 

“Those youngsters,” he sighed, and Edi would swear he could hear Paolo hum in agreement. “Now let’s get to the business, shall we?”

 

***

 

They exchanged the money and the goods almost in complete silence. Paolo checked if the money was there but didn’t count them as it would be impolite. Lugano opened one packet with the drug with a pocket knife and tasted it to make sure it was of the quality he wanted. 

“Feels good to do something yourself after all that time, doesn’t it?” Paolo grinned.

“Yeah, actually it does. It’s been a long time since I was working on the streets.”

“What about him?” Paolo asked and nodded to Edi who was kneeling next to Diego, not paying attention to anything going on around him.

Lugano shot one look at him like he already forgot that he was there.

“Are you coming with me, young man?” he asked.

Edi didn’t move, like he couldn’t hear him. Lugano shrugged. 

“So leave him here, take him with you to Peru or shoot him, I don’t care.” 

“Leaving him here wouldn’t be a good idea. When the cops find him here, I don’t think he would speak in your favor right now!” Paolo chuckled.

“My favor? It wasn’t me who shot the cop!” Lugano said. “So deal with him yourself. I wasn’t even supposed to be here.” 

“Washing your hands clean of this, aren’t you?” 

“As always,” Lugano said calmly. “That’s why I’ve never seen the jail from the inside while you’re quite familiar with it. Enjoy the rest of the night.”

Paolo watched him drive away. 

“Asshole,” he murmured.

 

***

 

Edi heard the footsteps behind his back. When they stopped, he squeezed his eyes shut.

“Come on, shoot me!” he whispered. “Shoot me like you shot him, what does it matter to you?” 

“Get up!” Paolo said.

Edi opened his eyes but didn’t dare to turn around.

“I said get up!” 

Edi scrambled up to his feet and looked at Paolo.

“Get in the car!” Paolo said. “And quickly, before I change my mind.”

When they stopped in front of Lugano’s club, Edi gave Paolo a confused look. 

“You want to live?” Paolo said and looked him in the eyes. “So you will go there and tell Lugano that you still want to work for him…” 

“I don’t want-“ 

“You will tell him…” Paolo said through gritted teeth, putting his hand over Edi’s mouth. “That it was a mistake that will never repeat itself. That you know that what happened was the right thing. That you need that job because you don’t have anywhere else to go. And you will hope that he doesn’t shoot your brain out of your head. That’s the only advice I can give you, alright?”

Edi nodded.

“You will forget that you were there, that I was there, you will forget everything you saw there. All clear?” 

Another nod. Paolo let his fingers slide down Edi’s lips. 

“Why didn’t you shoot me?” Edi whispered. 

“You’re just lucky that I’m becoming a sentimental idiot. Now get out of my car and forget that you know me. Just forget me.”

That was the part Edi thought would be the hardest of them all.

 

***

 

Martín walked into the club and Charo immediately jumped around his neck. 

“Oh, thank God, you’re alive!” she breathed. 

Martín gave her a tired smile. 

“I thought you didn’t give a damn about fuckers like Abreu and us.”

Charo frowned.

“You’re not like Abreu, alright? You’re like my little brother.”

“You’re younger than me,” Martín laughed. 

“You’re still my little brother,” she said and stroked his hair. “And I have to save your ass all the time.” 

“What the hell did you do?” Martín asked.

“You mean after you decided to let yourself be killed?” Charo asked. “Well, what could I have done? I thought I’d tell Nando, but he wasn’t there, so I found Lugano and told him to move his ass and do something.” 

“Did you use exactly these words?” Martín chuckled. 

“You bet. You should have seen his face. He was…” Charo paused at the sight of something behind Martín. “Oh, holy crap!” 

Martín turned around and found himself face to face with Edi.

“What the hell happened?” he breathed. 

“You promised you wouldn’t tell him!” Edi sobbed. “You promised!” 

“I know,” Martín whispered. “I’m sorry.” 

“I hate you, I fucking hate you!” Edi shouted, denying his words by clutching on Martín’s shirt and kissing him in the very next moment. 

Martín could hear Charo telling someone to “look somewhere else” and “your eyes could fall out if you stare like that, dude”. Apparently she definitively assumed the role of their guardian, and probably she was right, because as far as Martín could remember, she never made a mistake, unlike them two. She was also great at multitasking as she had no problems with telling people around them to fuck off and at the same time she managed to listen to Edi’s incoherent recount of the events of the night while patting his back gently.

“You better get him home,” she said to Martín. “If it’s like he says it is, I wouldn’t let him come near Lugano right now.” 

Martín nodded and wrapped his arm around Edi’s shoulders.

“Let’s go home.”

“But... I have to talk to Lugano!” Edi said.

“You’ll talk to him tomorrow,” Martín said quietly. 

“But...” 

“He’s not even here yet.”

He wasn’t sure where Lugano was, if he was to be honest, but all he needed was to get them home before he possibly comes back. They made their way through the club and got in the car that was parked outside. 

“You need a ride somewhere?” Martín asked Charo who was standing on the sidewalk, watching them.

“Nah. I’ll hang around here for some more time. I either get some work in my domain, or Lugano offers me a job when he comes back. Actually I wouldn’t refuse when I think about it.” 

Martín laughed and waved at her. Charo smiled and returned to the club. He started the car and left the club behind them. It felt relieving, even though he knew that he would come back the next day. He couldn’t leave.

 

***

 

The lights in the bedroom were out. The city was still asleep and the night was strangely quiet.

Martín woke up to the touch of Edi’s hands under his T-shirt and his lips on his neck. The touches were familiar, and yet way more daring than ever before. He could tell where they were leading. 

“You’re sure that you really want this?” he asked quietly. “We don’t have to go that fast.”

“I know,” Edi whispered. “But what if it’s the last time?” 

Martín looked at him. Edi’s eyes gleamed in the faint light of the street lamps outside.

“It’s not, alright? It’s not!” he said firmly. “And I don’t want this to happen because of fear or sadness. That’s not why it should happen.” 

He pulled Edi closer and wrapped his arms around him. After a while he felt how Edi relaxed in his embrace, and he smiled.

It was simple and it was enough.

 

 


End file.
